Time for Reconnection
I often think the Master Recycler community is a lot like our vibrant rivers.
Master Recyclers flow throughout the region, nourishing our farmers’ markets, multifamily communities, schools, workplaces, congregations, and neighborhoods. Some branch off to join reuse and repair organizations like Cracked Pots, Repair Fairs, SCRAP, Free Geek. Some cause seasonal floods of activity like the PlanetCon and Earth Day celebrations. Others make up eddy currents through artful expression and story telling.
Members of Trash for Peace, Centro Cultural and North by Northeast Community Health Center came to the Master Recycler community as a group and added to the power of our current.
We are so much more than just tabling and presentations. We build and strengthen connections in our diverse communities so that they are more resilient and sustainable.
The path of our river has been interrupted. Many of you have shared your stories with me about the loss you are feeling for your projects that were your passion. I share your grief and frustration.
But we are still a community. We just need to find new ways to reconnect and flow together again.
I have been asked multiple times when I plan to pivot the Master Recycler course to an online platform so that we can “get started again”. It tells me that people have lost track of the mission of the Master Recycler Program. The purpose of the course is to offer training for a volunteer corps who inspires action. It makes little sense to train new volunteers to participate in activities that focused on our world of the past. Time and energy would be better spent reconnecting our existing community and identifying our new priorities and ways of getting our work done.
And I think that we need to reconnect in a way that recognizes that we are experiencing trauma. With economic and health worries, we need to be forgiving of ourselves when we are not productive. But on the days when you want to connect and work toward building a new more equitable, sustainable world, I’d like to focus on creating space for that.
I will be working on new tools to help you connect and offering trainings on how to use those tools. I am also hoping to identify time for small group “gatherings” this summer with the goal of just reconnecting. I encourage you to reach out to the people and partners in your eddies of activities and just have a chat. The time you spend reconnecting with folks from your classes, projects and partnerships will all count as Master Recycler hours even if all you do is ask each other how you are.
Please, also report hours for projects that got interrupted. We need to recognize your hard work even if it didn’t get to be completed.
Please take good care of yourselves and reach out if you have ideas, questions, or concerns.
Thank you for being the amazing community activists that you are,
Lauren Norris
New Tools for You
Miss having those conversations about recycling? Wishing you had a way to show off your new found love for DIY body care lotion after attending the Metro webinar? If you are feeling ready to talk to folks, but not sure how to go about it, these tools might help. They are designed to use right in your home using your smart phone or digital camera for videos or your computer. You can invite folks you know in the community or email MasterRecycler@PortlandOregon.gov to identify a community organization that might like a Master Recycler presentation.
MAKE A VIDEO
Do you have a camera on your phone? Then you have what you need to make a video.
Find ideas for making your own video or use new scripts that are designed to talk about food waste and garbage and recycling in today’s context.
Food is harder to get right now, so people are more focused on how to make it last. The recycling presentation focuses on how to keep garbage and recycling workers safe with actions at home. Your video will be added to the Master Recycler YouTube channel.
Offer a Zoom Presentation
Offer folks in your community a fun and interactive gathering focused on recycling, waste prevention or composting.
People are looking for ways to connect, distractions from worries, and ways to make a difference. Invite your family, members of your knitting club, your co-workers, or folks from your congregation to join a 40 minute interactive experience online. Find ready made power points and instructions on setting up a gathering.
Upcoming Master Recycler Opportunities
Story of Plastic Movie Viewing and Panel
Clackamas County invites Master Recyclers to a viewing and panel discussion on the Story of Plastic
This viewing was offered earlier, but canceled. If you already RSVP’d for that viewing, your spot is already secured. But there is still 30 spots left for new sign ups.
Watch the movie before hand then join for the panel discussion.
Panel Discussion: Thursday, May 28th at 6:00 PM
Panelists
- Lauren Norris - Master Recycler Program
- Nancy Nordman - Surfrider Foundation
- Brion Hurley - Recycling Advocates
- Dave Claugus - Pioneer Recycling
- Dylan de Thomas - The Recycling Partnership
When you click this registration button and enter the password there will be instructions on how to watch the movie and join the discussion. You might want to save that page or come back to it and then register.
Dos Clases por Promotores Ambientales del Condado de Washington
The Art (and Nuts and Bolts) of Online Presentations
We are all learning to connect in different ways. If the new Master Recycler online presentation tools look intriguing, but you are feeling a little apprehensive about trying them out, join in this low key atmosphere to learn more how to use them.
Zoom Presentation Training with Lauren Norris
Wednesday, June 3, 4-6 pm on Zoom
Master Recyclers of Color (MRoC) Meetup!
A meet up for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) passionate about ReUse, ReCycling, and the Waste Stream.
This meet up is a space for any individual that identifies as a person of color (POC) interested in waste and recycling to convene and organize. Many of us have taken a Portland Metro Area Master Recycle course, but please note that any POC can attend the meetings and enrollment or completion of the class is not required.
This an opportunity to bring those of us who work or volunteer in the reuse/recycling/waste industry together. We'll share opportunities, resources, and challenges or just to commiserate about the industry.
To stay in touch with the PDX Master Recyclers of Color (MROC): https://www.facebook.com/groups/1688950241406603/
MROC is a facilitated by volunteers organizers and we welcome interested energy!
Appreciations
We haven’t had a Newsletter since the end of February, so we are a bit behind in recognizing a number of accomplishments!
Centurion Master Recycler
How fitting that we celebrated a new Centurion Master Recycler on Earth Day! Thank you to Denise Greenspan (Class 63) for reporting 100 hours. Denise created a whole new curriculum of Master Recycler messages on toxics, food waste prevention, recycling and waste prevention specifically for Washington County Girl Scouts.
She also identified age appropriate activities the girls could do on these topics so that they could earn their badges and pins. Denise engaged over 700 girl scouts in Washington County and just worked with her first group in Multnomah County. Speaking of pins: Denise has earned her 100 Centurion pin.
Certified Master Recyclers
Congratulations and thank you to Master Recyclers who have completed their 30 hour commitment.
Karen Huck (Class 54) spent the first half of her Master Recycler hours promoting toxics reduction, green building and recycling at events around the region. More recently she deepened her commitment by joining the Cracked Pots board. As a member of the Education Committee, she is helping their programs and mission to celebrate creative reuse through the ReClaim It store, the Cracked Pot event at the Edgefield, and the Glean Art project.
Denise Evans (Class 59) is a Clackamas County Master Recycler through and through. She spent her time promoting the 3 R's (plus food waste prevention) in MIlwaukie, Oregon City and West Linn. Although she did get to the Gresham Farmers' Market and Sunday Parkways in Portland, as well (pictured promoting reuse, repair, sharing and borrow). She wrapped up her 30 hour commitment in the apartments she just moved into. She went door to door and offered a recycling table. A great way to get to know your new neighbors and promote sustainability.
Sage Erbez-Benson (Class 71) shared tips and ideas about food waste and recycling in diverse community events in Portland including the Jade Night, African-American Homebuyers' fair, New Year in the Park, Free Geek, and Native Arts Fest. She also joined to plan and implement zero waste efforts with fellow members at the People's Coop.
Clair Carder (Class 74) has been working with Southwest Neighborhoods Inc. with the ultimate goal of starting a sustainability committee. She supported the SWNI fall clean up along the way. Clair has also joined a group of Class 74 folks that meet on occasion to support one another’s projects. The group practices presentations and gives feedback and ideas on projects. She has also set up the Recycle or Not table several times at the Zoo to add learning experience to the Washed Ashore exhibit there.
Lisa Arceneaux (Class 76) took the course through a partnership with the North by Northeast Community Health Center and Metro. She volunteered at the February Fix-it Fair (pictured on the right) and assisted the King Elementary school who was implementing a new lunch compost program. She also offered a presentation on her experience taking the Master Recycler which will soon be featured in the new Master Recycler YouTube Channel.
Gabrielle Seeger Williams (Class 76) began her volunteer hours after social distancing had begun - and she was quite creative! She watched Digital Dump at the same time as family members and then had a discussion about E-waste. She had conversations about recycling and toxic-free sanitizer with neighbors from the sidewalk, and she talked about compost techniques over the fence with her neighbors who were starting a garden. She took the course with the North by Northeast Community Health Center as well.
Conservation News
Now an online event. Eco-school Network fundraiser
