Gerty Coville is constantly talking trash in the hope to convince people that trash has value. Coville is project manager for the Recycle More, It’s Easy to Do recycling education and outreach campaign for King County (Washington) Solid Waste Division’s Department of Natural Resources and Parks. King County’s Cedar Hills Regional Landfill is located in King County and is owned and operated by the King County Solid Waste Division. Coville also manages the Spanish-language outreach campaign, Recicla Mas Es Facilisimo, the first of its kind. It takes a great deal of collaboration and partnerships with local haulers, local retailers, and suburban cities to implement education outreach tactics with the goal of getting residents to put the right materials in the garbage, recycling, and yardwaste containers.
Through strategic planning and implementation and with the assistance of her colleagues, Coville uses a variety of tactics to raise awareness about residential recycling and increase the residential recycling rate for single-family households in King County. “I use tactics like television and radio advertising, earned media opportunities, print, online and Facebook advertising and community event education to popularize the topic of recycling,” she says.
Coville’s Goal: “To help residents see their garbage as having value and that by recycling materials instead of putting them in the garbage we are supporting the local economy and saving resources.” The concept of zero waste of resources is widely unknown to the public, Coville points out. To that end, her programs start with a basic how-to of recycling to raise awareness about the value of what’s in the garbage. She uses a variety of waste characterization studies to understand what’s going in the landfill and behavior studies to determine how well county residents understand recycling. “The campaign tactics I use are strategic and emphasize what regular residents can do to increase recycling,” she notes.
What Led Her Into This Field
Coville unapologetically calls herself a tree-hugger. The roots of her enthusiasm for the environment and environmental health topics such as solid waste management date back to her childhood. She’s a Pacific Northwest native whose parents were avid hikers and outdoor enthusiasts. “I spent my childhood on the beaches of Puget Sound, at low tide, sometimes in the middle of the night, with my environmentalist mother as she gathered animals to teach basic ecology in her kindergarten classroom. That was okay back in the day-now it’s not, of course.”
Coville’s entry into public service began 25 years ago after she earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the School of Public Health at the University of Washington, specializing in Environmental Health. While there, she studied how the environment affects human health and how to interrupt the environmental effect on illness and disease.
What She Likes About Her Job
A people-person, Coville enjoys partnership building. “The most important element to me is having an impact on how we view our environment, saving resources and doing the best I can to teach people how to preserve and enhance the environment for our health and our kids’ health,” she says. “I love the part of my job that allows mentoring of up-and-coming solid waste professionals and environmental professionals. It’s the best!”
Her Biggest Challenge
Echoing the concern of many in the solid waste industry, Coville says her biggest challenge is doing more with less. “The importance of the work we do is sometimes not visible to our customers,” she points out. “We are challenged to provide excellent programs and services with fewer and fewer resources. I’d like to see residents have a renewed appreciation for the natural -environment and their role in how that affects our health and our society.”