WHAT WE DON'T THROW AWAY

WHAT WE DON'T THROW AWAY
Responsibility, Opportunity, and the Future of Community
Exclusive Interview with Tom Cook
Featured in 'Innerviews'
Hosted by Allié McGuire

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​Recycling is not just about waste. It is about responsibility, opportunity, and the story we choose to write for the place we call home. In Shiawassee, that story is being shaped with purpose, collaboration, and a vision that stretches far beyond today.

ALLIÉ: Before we talk strategy or systems, I want to get personal. Was there a moment, Tom, a memory, a realization that made recycling or sustainable materials management something that you could not ignore, something you felt compelled to champion here in Shiawassee?

TOM: I do not know if there was a moment, but it was just an interesting convergence of a lot of things. And I guess, if you are saying personally, it made me think of this intersection between my parents’ generation. I worked closely with my parents for a long time, and they were both children of the Depression, where everything was about taking care of everything and being very careful and efficient with our use of resources. They were teenagers during World War II and part of canned metal drives, rubber drives, fuel rationing, and all those things.

And then I think that intersected with me being a child of the seventies, with Earth Day and the passage of things like the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act and that burgeoning environmentalism. Both of those things have always been part of my background. ​Then, just about two years ago, or maybe a year and a half ago, it was like, oh, there is a need and an opportunity to address recycling. I think sustainability might be a better word now. It is certainly not a word that my parents used or a word that I learned in the seventies, but it is a word that is now much more defining.

Somewhere in the last one to two years there was an “aha” moment. This word sustainability means something in the place that I live, in how I grew up. It is this intersection of my parents’ values and my values coming together here and now.

ALLIÉ: Yeah. Well, the power of a word, yeah?

TOM: Yes, but it’s making that word concrete that is important. There are too many words that get thrown around. We have seen that in politics when people are lazy and use words they think everybody knows what they mean.

Sustainability was kind of that word for me, and maybe environment was that word too. Having the opportunity to see, in Shiawassee County, very concrete examples of what sustainability is made that word real for me.
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​ALLIÉ: And to that point, you are right. So many terms are trending and thrown around, but when they become solid and relatable, it changes everything.

When you imagine the future we are all building, not just infrastructure but the identity of our community, what does that look like to you? Would you mind painting a picture of the Shiawassee you hope future generations inherit?

TOM: I am not sure I will have grandchildren, but in some ways that makes it more compelling to me, thinking about future generations that are not necessarily my progeny.

The need and opportunity in Shiawassee County is to talk about sustainability and the wise use of resources and the natural environment, but to do it with the recognition that Shiawassee County is a rural, largely blue-collar area. Sustainability is a loaded term that we often associate with places like Ann Arbor or California. How do we think about it in a rural place?

The vision I see is making recycling and care for the environment part of the community fabric. I see opportunities around food and employment. The local food movement is critical, but it has often been associated with people who have disposable income. My vision is finding a way to grow food locally that meets the needs of our residents and does so in an economically sustainable way.

That includes not wasting food, reusing food, growing food locally, and composting food waste, which is starting in Shiawassee County. There is also opportunity around materials recovery, composting, recycling, sustainable business practices, reuse of electronics. All of those create unique employment opportunities.

Part of my vision is creating jobs that can be filled by local people in need of employment, building on skill sets they already have and skill sets we can teach here.

ALLIÉ: Absolutely. Then it truly would be sustainable on so many levels.

You have brought together voices and organizations that do not always sit at the same table. What does the word collaboration mean to you, and what part of that work fills your cup the most?

​TOM: I used to teach Leadership Shiawassee and spent a lot of time talking with people about leadership. I have also been involved in problem-solving initiatives from health care to economic development to the environment to local government, including a stint on the Owosso City Council.

The lesson that gets proven over and over again is that none of us alone is as smart as all of us together, or as good, or as strong. Collaboration is bringing a group of people together and focusing their unique perspectives, knowledge, and expertise on one problem or set of problems.

We often look to the expert or the personality, blaming or expecting too much from leaders. Many times, the solution exists within ourselves if we get the right people in the room, listen to one another, and find alignment of interests. That, to me, is collaboration.

ALLIÉ: That is one of the best definitions I have heard. And you are right, it takes all of us to create lasting change.

TOM: There are experts within our community and experts outside our community. The challenge is valuing local knowledge while being open to outside expertise. Outside experts sometimes assume their solution applies everywhere, and it does not always work here.

We need people who appreciate the uniqueness of our geography, organizations, and individuals to find the right solutions. We are seeing that in the recycling space.

ALLIÉ: Of the early steps already taken, composting programs, recycling events, education initiatives, has anything surprised you with its impact?

TOM: I have been impressed with Greater Laingsburg Recycling. It started as a very community-based effort and still is. They did paper drives for years. About six or seven years ago, the Cook Family Foundation gave them a grant that helped leverage a state grant to build a drop-off site. That supercharged their efforts. They moved beyond collecting paper, plastic, and glass into running a compost program. They have also experimented with zero-waste events at community functions in Laingsburg. Events that once generated bags of Styrofoam waste now produce very little waste, with most materials recycled or composted. That still surprises and inspires me. It is happening in Shiawassee County, and I want to see more of it.

​ALLIÉ: Most people do not connect recycling with economic opportunity or job creation. If you could speak directly to young people who do not see the potential, what truth would you want them to walk away with?

TOM: Shiawassee County is uniquely situated for entrepreneurial opportunities. We are seeing that with initiatives from the Chamber of Commerce, Great Lakes Fusion in Vernon, and Resourceful Recycling in Chesaning. While we are rural, we are located between metropolitan areas. Transport is a major challenge in materials recovery. If we can turn waste materials into products locally and distribute them back to those markets, we minimize transportation costs.

We have strong economic development resources through the Chamber, the Shiawassee Economic Development Partnership, and the Small Business Resource Center. There are opportunities everywhere. One example is wine cork collection. They ship corks to Canada now. Why not figure out what products we could make from corks right here? There are similar opportunities with vinyl waste, plastic, glass, metal, wood, and electronics. Repairing and repurposing electronics is a huge opportunity. The Shiawassee Regional Education Service District already has strong training programs. We could build on those.

Finally, there is an equity component. Shiawassee Health and Wellness has long employed people with developmental disabilities and emotional challenges through recycling operations like DJ Root Recycling. That model shows how recycling can create employment pathways for people who face barriers to entering the job market.

ALLIÉ: It really is an invitation for curiosity and possibility.

TOM: We often come into situations with perceptions that stifle us. Trash is not just trash. There are valuable resources in it. There have been bad actors in recycling, which makes local solutions even more important.

If we build a local recycling economy, we ensure materials go to productive uses. It requires us to rethink and reframe how we view what we throw away. ∎
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Learn more about Tom, his work and the Cook Family Foundation:
www.cookfamilyfoundation.org