Planet

During the early 1990s, I served as an elementary school teacher and found myself faced with the task of creating a curriculum for the Recycling Unit. At that time, curbside pick-up had just begun, and textbooks offered no guidance on the subject. Through a combination of workshops, conferences, extensive reading, and personal exploration, I delved into the world of waste reduction and the best practices for managing materials that couldn’t be reduced, reused, recycled, or composted.

In my classroom, I introduced a vermi-composting bin, which provided an excellent opportunity to teach children about reusing and recycling food scraps. This practice continued until 2010 when legislation finally allowed for the mixing of food scraps with landscape organics in commercial composting. The more I learned, the more I was compelled to share my knowledge. I often joke that educators have no secrets – we willingly share everything.

In 1995, I embarked on a new chapter in my career when I was hired by the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC). SWANCC is an intergovernmental agency comprised of 23 municipalities in north and northwest Cook County, Illinois. As the Recycling and Education Director for nearly 28 years, I assumed responsibility for developing and overseeing member communities’ special material programs, organizing one-day events, managing permanent collections, implementing school programs, conducting public outreach, creating educational resources, overseeing communications, and managing social media initiatives. I recently retired from this role in June 2023.