McMinnville has many people who are involved in grassroots projects to improve issues, and Zero Waste McMinnville has attracted some very dedicated people who offer a lot of their personal time. There are many more people than listed here who volunteer, but these are members of a core group who come to the meetings the first and second Mondays of each month and help on committees and event activities. Join us!
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Pat Angland spent her first 25 years in California’s Bay area and enjoyed her summers with grandparents in Oregon. She moved to Oregon to raise her kids where she taught and worked as an elementary school counselor. She enjoyed “green projects” done in collaboration with students and staff. After retirement in 2005 she opened her own business, Senior Moves Simplified. As a move manager, she re-used personal moving boxes, cartons & packing papers to save clients money and divert waste. She has worked with Zero Waste for just over two years. Fully Retired now, she works on the “Bag it Better” committee” aiding implementation of the city’s forward-thinking ordinance. “Supporting others in making new steps and behavior changes is essential, and I am glad to help.” When we move toward more socially responsible goals we often feel a bit uncomfortable and change can be scary or exciting. With our help, we want to help McMinnville find pride in this mission.
Wanda Cochran is a native Oregonian having grown up on the north Oregon coast. She was a reporter and editor at The Oregonian newspaper in Portland for 30 years and moved to McMinnville in 2016. She got involved in environmental issues while in high school, working with a group opposing the construction of an aluminum smelter near fragile estuaries at the mouth of the Columbia River. She helped establish recycling programs at the newspaper offices and is a Master Recycler. Reduce, reuse, recycle is her mantra and she is delighted to have found such a dedicated and positive group of folks working to improve our planet in McMinnville. She is a part of the programs committee as well as the marketing and Styrofoam committees.
Beth Dell was involved with Ramsey McPhillips, Patriciafaye Marshall, and Steve Iversen with Community Rights and couldn’t decide on a project for that. There were several issues that interested us but we decided we wanted to respond with a positive campaign and work for something instead of against something. We all liked what we had heard about the concept of Zero Waste. We jumped in and it has been a fabulous experience. I was secretary for the first three years and then chairman of the Bag It Better campaign through the start date of the large stores complying with the new ordinance. So many, many committed volunteers have made Zero Waste what it is today and I have learned so much from them. It’s an amazing topic that becomes an ever-evolving challenge and lifestyle.
Lovetta Dill is a native child of Yamhill County, educated here, as were her children, and has spent all but a few years of her life here. She is invested in the community. For decades it was enough for her to just do what she could in her own home, in her own backyard, to reduce the footprint she would leave when she am gone. Today that feels like ‘not enough’. Working with the Zero Waste team affords me the opportunity to do more. Lovetta knows she cannot save the whole planet, but if she can accomplish some little thing to foster sustainability in her corner of the planet… well, that’s enough. And maybe along the way she will influence another in that effort. At least one.
Annely Germaine spent the first 12 years of her life in Austria, where the post-war scarcity of resources still affected all areas of life. Vendors made cone-shaped bags out of old newspapers with the twist of the wrist. Everyone carried baskets or bags when going shopping. Houses were built to last centuries, and every Hausfrau knew how to manage without waste. Many moves, changes, and 50-ish years later, my/our world is thrashing and trashing with wild abandon. To deal with this global picture of planet abuse and neglect, action on the local level through the Zero Waste efforts has landed her in a project that is achievable. Annely’s special interest is styrofoam recycling, and our active committee is working on eliminating styrofoam from the waste stream. Estimates of the percent of styrofoam in a typical landfill range from 10-30%. Our long-range goal is to work on influencing manufacturers to use biodegradable packing materials.
Gerry Hunter has lived and worked in McMinnville since 1997 when he started the 3rd Street Pizza Company. He is the father of three amazing kids, all of whom have enjoyed the idyllic circumstance of having McMinnville and all that it has to offer be part of their growing up. He is grateful to have found Zero Waste McMinnville, allowing him to be part of an amazing group of people working tirelessly to make a difference in our community and our world. Currently, Gerry serves on the Construction and Demolition Committee, which focuses its efforts on reducing the amount of C&D waste (which some reports estimate to be more than twice the amount of generated Solid Municipal Waste) going into landfills. Gerry also serves on the boards of 3rd Friday on 3rd Street and The McMinnville Downtown Association. When not on 3rd Street, he enjoys getting outside to enjoy all that our amazing Pacific Northwest has to offer, especially on a bicycle or sailboat, and most especially with his fiance Linda Hays, the amazing Toy Store Lady.
Steve Iverson (Treasurer) is a retired nuclear physicist and “numbers lover.” He keeps track of finances and records our diversion numbers for events. Steve moved to Oregon from California in 2011 to escape the crowds and droughts, and has been pleasantly surprised by the recycling opportunities in McMinnville, and by the civic involvement of the people here and support from the city government. “I had to join Zero Waste McMinnville because it is the organization whose mission and principles most closely resemble mine. We need to move past the “easy” habits, such as recycling, and focus on long-term change in our production and consumption practices.”
Corena Killian (Secretary) is a relative newcomer to the environmental activism arena. Dawning awareness since the beginning of 2017 about the severity of our planet’s environmental and climate change crises drove her first to despair, then to action. She joined Zero Waste McMinnville in October 2017. In contributing to local efforts to influence real change, I can set an example of environmental responsibility and community service for my family and help our community understand, and hopefully alter, long-standing behavioral habits that unknowingly contribute to environmental and climate degradation.
Ramsey McPhillips (President) has been advocating for Zero Waste since the very first Earth Day in 1970 when he gave his first lecture on ‘how to Compost.’ He was 11 and sadly only his older brother attended the lecture. But he’s never given up and after receiving an Environmental Studies degree from Bowdoin College he established a career as a globe trotting Hortivangelist (garden therapist) and farmer. Ramsey is the founding President Of Zero Waste McMinnville and is working primarily to divert all of McMinnville’s compostable waste shed back into fertile soil.
Beth Rankin grew up in the New York metropolitan area and felt that she was coming home when she and her husband Graham moved to McMinnville almost five years ago. With a degree and work experience in urban planning, the environmental effects of the development and habits of residents are very noticeable. In 2014 Beth started Can-Do Real Food, a commercial food processing business that works with small local farms to preserve surplus fruits and vegetables thereby reducing food waste, giving the farmers another income stream and helping local residents learn that they can eat local food year-round. Beth got involved with Zero Waste McMinnville as the blog writer and part of the marketing team because she believes the small changes each of us can make to improve our environment are easy to implement and will produce healthy results.
Graham Rankin moved to McMinnville with his wife Beth from West Virginia in the fall of 2013 after retiring from full time teaching at Marshall University. One of his degrees is in Oceanography so he was very aware of the need to reduce trash going into the ocean. One thing he noticed soon after moving here is how little trash is on the streets in McMinnville relative to West Virginia. “We show out of town visitors the Recology site and tell them about the job they do helping to recycle trash” After a few years in Mac, he learned about the work of Zero Waste McMinnville so both he and his wife attended a “guest meeting” and immediately got involved. Graham volunteered to work as a “runner” during events like the UFO Festival – basically hauling the trash from the various bins to the sorting site. He likes to say, his 10 years of grad school prepared him to be a garbage man. He has also served on the “Bag It Better” and Styrofoam committees for ZW.
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