The Ecology Center fulfilled Kathy’s desire to see her studies of the environment as action in the community. Through education programs, the Ecology Center taught people that recycling was a rewarding and active way to be a change maker. Click to hear more from Kathy.

As an example of the informality of the Ecology Center in its early years with curbside recycling, Kathy gives the following example of how they got their first truck donated and chaotically avoided disaster daily. Click to listen.

Even for the Ecology Center, the success of recycling meant industrialization. Creative community groups who relied on volunteers, homespun methods of collection, and second-hand trucks could not meet the capacity of recycling as big business emerged prepared to manage thousands of tons of waste. As the Ecology Center focused its resources on collection, it placed less emphasis on education of the community. Click to hear Kathy share her moment of realization that the Ecology Center needed to formalize itself to be effective.

According to Kathy, the city was willing to support recycling because they had seen it work with Ecology Action’s drop-off center. During the 70s, the radical city council supported many community services that emerged from counterculture thinking. Click to hear more.