Home ReSource: Your sustainability and DIY center

From programming to paint to pesticide disposal, Home ReSource has just about everything you may need to start or finish a project around your home. Last month, staff from Missoula Public Health and Home ReSource celebrated the opening of the much-anticipated household chemical disposal facility.  

This week, the commissioners spoke with director Kelli Hess about what constitutes household chemical waste, the benefits of buying second-hand building materials and much more. 

Related links: 

• Waste Wizard 
• Household Chemical Disposal 
• Sign up for Last Best Haz Waste Days, Sept 6-7, 2024
• Missoula Valley Water Quality District 

Thank you to Missoula's Community Media Resource for podcast recording support!

Transcript

Josh Slotnick: [00:00:10] Welcome back to the agenda with the Missoula County Commissioners. I'm Josh Slotnick and I'm here with my fellow commissioners and friends, Dave Strohmaier and Juanita Vero. We've been out for a while. We are on actually on a bridge jumping tour of western Montana. But really back to Noxon Bridge.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:00:25] We looked before we jumped. We looked before we cannonball or uh oh. Okay. Yeah. Backflip. Okay.

Josh Slotnick: [00:00:30] Today we're joined by Kelli Hess, the executive director at Home Resource. Welcome, Kelli.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:00:35] Good morning. Good morning. So for, I guess, starters for folks who are not familiar with Home Resource, what the heck is home resource? Oh, boy.

Kelli Hess: [00:00:45] Big question. Okay, I talk about home resources being our community sustainability center. So Home Resource does so much we've been around for we're going on our 21st year in Missoula. So that's a really big deal. And we're on the corner of Russell and Wyoming Street and mostly known for our reuse store. And so really a place where people can thrift building materials and we're able to do that. And last year we were able to keep 1.8 million pounds of building materials out of the landfill. Wow. Building materials are something that will fill up our local landfill if we're not really careful. And so with the growth of Missoula, having a space where people can have access to reuse, and also a place to either donate their materials or find the next best project. So sometimes it's about it's about reusing a material for its intended purpose, but other times it's about being reimagined and figuring out what that might turn into. So we have this amazing store. If you haven't been there, it's eye candy to the 10th degree. It's a really fun place to walk around and just see what we have. What makes Home Resource really special in our reuse store is that we deal with every kind of building material, and so there's other organizations similar to ours in other communities that do set up a system for building reuse, but they don't deal with the what I call bits and bobs. And so not only do we do the big things like doors and windows and toilets and cabinetry, we also do little tiny bits and bobs like hinges, drawer pulls or shower heads, or the connecting piece for whatever you can think of. We have that in our store as well.

Josh Slotnick: [00:02:18] I've found some hard to find hardware there.

Kelli Hess: [00:02:20] Yeah, absolutely.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:02:21] Well, and besides, the opportunity for folks to donate materials to Home Resource and then for those materials to be resold. Do you have programing? Yes. Thanks.

Kelli Hess: [00:02:33] Yeah. So we're known for that reuse store, but we also have an onslaught of programs that are around sustainability. And so things like we have a fifth grade education program, it's called swap and swap stands for the Zero Waste Ambassador program. So we go into every school in the area as far as Alberton and Frenchtown and Lolo and all of the schools within Missoula. And we have an educator that goes and talks about small things, both what kids can do to reduce their waste footprint, but also with an inspiring message of hope. Right? Climate resiliency is is hard and can be a doom and gloom topic. And so working with fifth graders to spark hope and say that every little bit matters and the end of that education experience as they come to home resource on a field trip and they get to do a scavenger hunt and do some do some math around, what would it mean if we built this chicken coop or bathroom remodel, whatever their task is, and how much would they potentially save out of the landfill? And what's the upstream impact of not having to buy or produce those materials? So we have an education program. We have a really amazing internship program where we have five cohorts over the course of the year. Teenage youth come in and it's paid internships and they come and they get exposure to jobs in the trades. There's certainly a lack of individuals that are going into jobs in the trades. And with the growth of our community, we all know that we need to foster that, and they can be really Incredible jobs and incredible opportunities.

Juanita Vero: [00:03:58] So what kind of work are the interns doing?

Kelli Hess: [00:04:00] They're doing work in our wood shop. Every time, make sure that they have exposure to a different type of person that works in the trades. And so that might be we had some really cool architects that came in and shared, you know, what they're doing and how they're doing that. And the kids got to then draft up some plans of rebuilding some structures in our yard at our store to create coverage for the lumber that we have out there. So it's different every single time. Some of that's guided by the students and other parts of that is our our real intention of sharing sort of that that exposure piece to you.

Josh Slotnick: [00:04:30] Mentioned wood shop. So are people making things in there? Yeah.

Kelli Hess: [00:04:34] So we have an incredible wood shop that is used for community workshops. And we have a workshop coordinator that's in there. And he's planning classes in partnership with the Lifelong Learning Center. People can register for those classes. Just this last month we started having open workshop hours in wood shop hours. So community members, can you pay a small fee, but you can come in and use any of the tools.

Josh Slotnick: [00:04:56] Anyone can do that.

Kelli Hess: [00:04:57] Yeah.

Josh Slotnick: [00:04:57] So you go through a training, you go through a mini training.

Kelli Hess: [00:04:59] Exactly. And there's a small fee but on a sliding scale. So really wanting that access piece of allowing people access to tools and opportunities. But we've seen really positive feedback on that as well. Who in their in their home life has, you know, space to set up the giant, you know, table saw and all of the the drill press and all.

Josh Slotnick: [00:05:19] Of that in there. And I have to say really nice ventilation too. So it's rather than doing this, cobbling this together in your garage and breathing a bunch of sawdust, you're in a really nice place. Yeah.

Juanita Vero: [00:05:28] Josh Slotnick. Are you going to make us a new conference table? I'm going to join up here. Yeah, I'm going to.

Josh Slotnick: [00:05:34] I'm going to become part of this.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:05:35] I like that. I like it.

Josh Slotnick: [00:05:37] That's super cool.

Kelli Hess: [00:05:38] The last program that I just don't want to leave off the conversation is, is around zero waste systems. And so is that where you were going to bring up? Okay.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:05:45] Uh, we were actually working our way towards, uh, waste. Uh, that is a new.

Josh Slotnick: [00:05:51] Yes, but we're headed towards the new thing.

Kelli Hess: [00:05:54] Yes, yes. So we have a zero waste systems manager and program, and that's in partnership with the county and the city and local entities. That helps us figure out what's the best systems. Right? There's a lot about very specific things, but there's also the behind the scenes. How can we make our community more sustainable in the long run. And some of that is figuring things out in a really creative way. This last week, we were at the Western Montana Fair, and we were there as the green team, and we set up an entire system with the fair. And now our local fair is known nationally as it should be because it's amazing. And and part of that is because there's zero waste systems that are in place there. So we don't have the numbers in yet. I was going to say.

Josh Slotnick: [00:06:33] Give us some impressive stats.

Kelli Hess: [00:06:34] Okay.

Juanita Vero: [00:06:35] Fair just ended yesterday. Yes.

Kelli Hess: [00:06:37] Fair just ended yesterday. In 2023 we were able to divert 60,000 pounds of waste. And so that just means that all of the the trash from the food vendors and things like that was sorted instead of just into a garbage pile. It was sorted into compost because we have a local compost facility. It was sorted into recycling and we coordinated volunteers, but did the pre-work to also coordinate with all of those vendors. And so they were using materials that made that sort really, really easy and possible.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:07:05] And and what was super helpful, because I was at the fair this last week also, and putting together the display, um, display board, which actually showed items that could be compostable or super helpful.

Juanita Vero: [00:07:20] And the green team was amazing because the bins were never overflowing or I didn't think they were.

Josh Slotnick: [00:07:24] This is kind of a classic example of when you make things, make it easy for people to do the right thing. They do the right thing. Right, right. We should be emulating this and outside of the fair as well.

Kelli Hess: [00:07:34] Absolutely. That accessibility piece and that education, you know, combined with the education opportunity, that's really what we're focusing on at home resource every single day. How can we make these things easy, understandable and accessible to everybody in our community. And that leads us to household chemicals.

Josh Slotnick: [00:07:51] Are you doing it in partnership with our five star health department?

Juanita Vero: [00:07:57] Absolutely.

Kelli Hess: [00:07:58] Oh, I'd give them ten stars, to be honest.

Juanita Vero: [00:08:00] So what kind of things can people drop off at the new facility?

Kelli Hess: [00:08:03] Okay, so there's there's lots of categories of things and the list is very long. And so you should go to the website home resources website. It's home resource slash HCD household chemical disposal is what that stands for. And and you can see the full list. But it's everything from some flammables right. So diesel fuel if you have those you.

Josh Slotnick: [00:08:20] Can bring diesel fuel.

Kelli Hess: [00:08:21] Yeah. If you have fuel in your garage that that is mixed for the certain tool or the thing or then has sat there longer than maybe than it should have and you don't know if it's good. Now there's a place in Missoula that you can get rid of that. And so flammables is one category pesticides and herbicides. And so but there are.

Juanita Vero: [00:08:38] Volume restrictions, Slotnick.

Kelli Hess: [00:08:39] There's volume. You're gonna have to make more than one appointment. Ten gallons per visit is our limit.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:08:46] Ten gallons of just diesel fuel or ten gallons total.

Kelli Hess: [00:08:50] Total right now is is our limit as we're testing the waters, as we're figuring this out. And that's that's actually quite a bit because not every container is fully, you know, all the way full. What we're seeing is a lot of people are bringing the leftovers of what they may have used. Or when they moved into their current home, they it was left over in the corner of the garage. And they never knew what that thing was or, or how to use it. So pesticides and herbicides is another category. And then there's like PCB ballasts, people can bring PCB ballasts to that. I don't know what that is. What does that mean. Yeah.

Juanita Vero: [00:09:22] That's oh oh the the the lighting tubes. Yeah. Yeah okay.

Kelli Hess: [00:09:25] It's not the, it's not the light bulb tube, but it's the connecting piece. And there can be mercury in some of those. And so wanting to make sure that those don't end up in our landfill as well. There's a big long list. Drano, some cleaners. People bring cleaners. A big reason why Home Resource engaged in this partnership, which is really unique, right. The public and nonprofit partnership and and years in the making. But part of that is the old has waste days. We used to have has waste days pre 2020. Yeah. They'd have 1 or 2 a year. For a long time we had those in Missoula and there were I don't know if you ever participated but they were big long lines. He was getting to talk.

Josh Slotnick: [00:10:00] About the lines of cars.

Kelli Hess: [00:10:02] Right. And at those events, what what they found was that what people were bringing, a lot of what they were bringing could be diverted, could be used. Sometimes the best case scenario is that that chemical is used for its initial intended purpose, not disposed of.

Juanita Vero: [00:10:17] What's an example?

Kelli Hess: [00:10:18] Paint. Right. So here's the thing. 40% of what people were bringing to those haz waste days could have been either sold in our store, or made available to community members to just use. People will bring Drano because what do you do with that? And how do you get rid of it and bring.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:10:33] It to my house? I have a few.

Juanita Vero: [00:10:34] Plug drains.

Kelli Hess: [00:10:36] I know. Wait until your drain clogs up again.

Josh Slotnick: [00:10:37] So how does scheduling work? Yeah.

Kelli Hess: [00:10:40] It's online. It's an online system you can also call Home resource. And we would walk you through it, not.

Josh Slotnick: [00:10:44] Just walk up anytime.

Kelli Hess: [00:10:46] No, no it's Tuesdays and Thursdays starting at 9 a.m. there's appointments scheduled out. Depending on demand. We'll add appointments or not, but it's right now it's Tuesdays and Thursdays, and for a small fee, there is a fee. The baseline fee is $20. People can bring up to ten gallons of these chemicals. And the water quality district, the health department employees are the ones that are staffing this space.

Josh Slotnick: [00:11:07] Because are there some things that maybe people shouldn't bring that maybe you could have brought to house waste days? Just so, folks?

Kelli Hess: [00:11:13] Yeah, right now we're not able to take unlabeled chemicals. And so if you just have the mystery jug.

Juanita Vero: [00:11:20] It's pretty reasonable.

Kelli Hess: [00:11:21] You cannot bring that. And really part of the registration process is them asking really specific questions of like, what do you have? What do you not have. There's some check boxes. And so if it's not making the check box list, you can inquire to see if I can bring this thing or not. But we're trying to make it as predetermined. Will we accept. So when you go.

Josh Slotnick: [00:11:39] Through the appointment process you will learn if the chemical you have is acceptable or not.

Juanita Vero: [00:11:44] And then if it's not acceptable. What happens to it? You just got to drink the person. Oh, right. Okay.

Kelli Hess: [00:11:50] I would point you to this waste wizard tool that we have. It's another thing that you can find on the Home Resource website. And this is managed at the local level by our team at home Resource. You can go in and you can type in anything. You can type in a computer mouse. You could type in XYZ chemical and see where can I safely dispose of this. Sometimes that will be pointing you to home resource. Oh my goodness. They will take your whatever motor oil you know that's one that gets brought up all the time. We're not right now taking motor oil because there's an outlet. You can take motor oil to the local Napa and they will and.

Josh Slotnick: [00:12:23] O'reilly's will take it to an.

Kelli Hess: [00:12:24] O'reilly Auto Parts stores will take that. And they have a process for them recycling that.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:12:29] So I might be a case in point here. So I have got a garage full of DDT, no uranium.

Juanita Vero: [00:12:37] Uranium.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:12:39] Paint. So so right right now apart from scheduling a time to drop in here. It sounds like maybe not all of it, but some of the paint I have, I might be able to just come to home. Resource. Oh my.

Kelli Hess: [00:12:53] Goodness. We have.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:12:53] A whole room and not pay the.

Kelli Hess: [00:12:55] $20. Pay the $20. Absolutely. So our rules on paint, just to be clear, are the paint needs to be five years old or newer. So it needs to be relatively new.

Juanita Vero: [00:13:05] Five years.

Kelli Hess: [00:13:06] Five years. Okay. Better get.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:13:07] Cracking here.

Kelli Hess: [00:13:08] Yeah, it's just our threshold. And the containers need to be at least half full. That's how we know that they're not totally dried out. And then we ask that they haven't been frozen. If you if you know that. Right. Like, just if it hasn't been.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:13:19] Absolutely not.

Josh Slotnick: [00:13:20] They have not in your garage heated.

Kelli Hess: [00:13:24] And if those three factors are true then absolutely we'll bring that. We saw so much paint. It's really expensive right now.

Josh Slotnick: [00:13:31] And so purchased paint it at air. Yeah. Yeah. That whole little paint shack. It's pretty sweet.

Kelli Hess: [00:13:37] Yeah. And so you know, for pennies on the dollar you can buy paint at home resource. And we have a lot of paint of lots of different lots of different colors that people can do. We shake all of our paint. We test our paint before we put it out for resale. If your paint doesn't meet those criteria, then if it's water based paint, if it's latex paint, then our recommendation is that you dry it out. And so a good way to do that is to mix it with sawdust or kitty litter, crack the lid and let it dry as long as it gets to where it's not.

Juanita Vero: [00:14:02] Like viscous.

Kelli Hess: [00:14:03] Viscous. Yeah, thanks. Then you can put the lid back on and throw it away.

Josh Slotnick: [00:14:07] It's going to go sideways. One little I'm just going to throw a big compliment at air. We said pennies on the dollar on the paint. So over the years I've bought so many building materials at home resource for our family farm. And the dollar savings is just spectacular. And there's an equity thing here that I don't know if it was part of your mission or not, but right now, and actually for quite a while, building materials really cost a lot of money. And the difference in buying new and buying salvaged is just astronomical. Obviously there's an environmental benefit, but the economic benefit to people who don't have tons of money are thinking, man, I would really like to fix those back steps, but I can't go buy a $20 treated two by six at the standard box store. One of the things about air that's kind of fun is you don't know what you're going to find because the inventory is rotating. So I got myself a little more time than I would if I go to a regular store, but I almost always find some special treat, a little gem that I wasn't imagining and you knew I needed before I got there. It's it's quite an experience and a great thing you're doing for people who don't have tons of money, help take control of their own lives. Thanks.

Kelli Hess: [00:15:13] That certainly is part of our mission, that accessibility piece, making sure that people can have access to the materials that they need. There's real stories. You know, last week there was somebody that came through our doors, and I happened to have just been downstairs by the till. And so I was sort of overhearing this interaction, but they were saying like, hey, my kid busted our toilet. My landlord. Right. Real thing happens.

Juanita Vero: [00:15:33] All the time.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:15:34] With.

Josh Slotnick: [00:15:34] A sledgehammer.

Juanita Vero: [00:15:35] As kids do.

Kelli Hess: [00:15:37] And we have an inspection. My landlord, we have an inspection and I don't. I need to repair this before they come, because they don't want to be at risk of losing my housing. And that sounds like it's maybe an exaggeration, but it's not really having access. And the other part of this story was this gentleman said, and I get paid on Friday. Is there any way I can pay? Come back in and pay on Friday? Well, we have a community member in need program where we can just say, no, you can have that toilet. And part of how that works is because our community is generous and is donating that material in the first place. And so we really do try to have very, very affordable prices. And we're also realists of, oh, if this is a need situation, we're going to make sure that people can have those materials.

Josh Slotnick: [00:16:18] When we were making chit chat before we started, I asked you how the tool library was going, which I know is not your organization but your neighbor. But I'd be like, what a great strategy to have the tool library next to air and have programing too. So we're really setting it up so people can fix things and rebuild things, even if they don't have the resources or the immediate knowledge or tools. So good on you for this.

Kelli Hess: [00:16:40] Yeah. The big design of our future vision of our campus is really having this. We have such a great location and having centralized spot where people can come. And so that's that's another thing with this household chemical disposal is having that where people are already used to coming and dropping off materials in a place that's not too far off the beaten path, where people can easily come and it's so easy.

Juanita Vero: [00:17:02] Yeah, yeah, it is easy.

Kelli Hess: [00:17:03] And so so that felt like another like, oh, this is the right fit.

Josh Slotnick: [00:17:08] So if you just want to feel good about Missoula, go to air at like Saturday or Sunday at about 11 in the morning, there are tons of people and it's all alive and vibrant and happy. And you'll run into somebody you know and you'll find something you didn't expect. It's just a great vibe over there. Thanks.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:17:23] So do you ever foresee a time when folks will just be able to drop in at the household chemical facility, or are we scaling up?

Juanita Vero: [00:17:33] Yeah, just pour.

Josh Slotnick: [00:17:34] That.

Juanita Vero: [00:17:35] Test. Yeah.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:17:37] Testing the waters The clean waters, so to speak.

Kelli Hess: [00:17:40] Yeah. What we're thinking about right now is could we have set days or weekends where we're, you know, less by appointment and say, okay, every weekend in the month of June, you can just stop by, get ready to maybe get in a line, but you can just get ready to stop by. As we're testing the waters, we're trying to figure out part of the limiter limiting factor on this is both because it's staffed by the water quality district employees who are who are trained up to do it safely. And so managing that sort of connection. But then also we're trying to gauge how long it's going to take to fill each compartment of this facility. Yeah.

Juanita Vero: [00:18:13] Describe describe the facility because it's kind of nondescript. You like roll in to the parking lot and you're like, what? This is just a storage container.

Kelli Hess: [00:18:20] But but it looks exactly like a storage container. And in fact, it's a very, very specific and technically designed storage container. It has three different compartments that have each have six layers of containment within that compartment to make sure that if anything did spill, it would not spill outside of itself, but one is to hold the flammables, another one is to hold the herbicides and pesticides and other ones for a different type of chemical. And so they're all separated. But any time that we're getting close to one of those being filled to capacity, then we got to work with the hauler who's going to come and pick up that material, and where does it go off? The hauler that we have a contract with right now is taking it near Salt Lake City, and it'll be incinerated. So the outcome is not great. I mean, part of the education that we were talking about before that we want to do is either don't buy it or use it for its intended purpose. Make sure that you want and want in the quantity that you're going to get. And so that piece feels really great to just to be able to share that message. But it's getting hauled off.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:19:14] What's happening on September 6th and seventh.

Kelli Hess: [00:19:17] We're calling it the last best haz waste day.

Juanita Vero: [00:19:20] Swan song.

Kelli Hess: [00:19:21] The last best. And really we're trying to release that pressure valve that we were just speaking of. We haven't had a haz waste day in Missoula since before 2020. And so having a spot where people can bring larger quantities. So September 6th and seventh all day long and it's going to be at the building that's on the other side of the Scott Street Bridge. I thought it was.

Juanita Vero: [00:19:39] City Public Works. Is it City public works?

Josh Slotnick: [00:19:41] Ten gallon limit in effect?

Kelli Hess: [00:19:42] No, up to 50 gallon.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:19:44] Up to 50. Okay.

Josh Slotnick: [00:19:45] You will see me. So.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:19:47] So folks on on either of those days should not show up at home. Resource. Right?

Kelli Hess: [00:19:50] They should not show up.

Juanita Vero: [00:19:51] 205 Scott Street. How about.

Josh Slotnick: [00:19:53] You? Can you do a motor oil on that day? Go to.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:19:56] Napa. That sounds like a loaded question. It is a loaded question.

Kelli Hess: [00:19:59] I don't think so. I think we're still pushing towards O'Reilly's and the Flammables, but the flammables and unlabeled things, because the hauler will be there on those days, and so they will be able to do the testing to know then which, which area much more will be able to be accepted. Do they have the forklift there?

Juanita Vero: [00:20:15] I am sure that they do. Yeah.

Kelli Hess: [00:20:19] People in the past have pulled up with trailers, right? And so there will be way more staff and way more capacity to unload the materials.

Juanita Vero: [00:20:27] It is.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:20:27] What if the motor oil is mixed in with gasoline? Yeah.

Juanita Vero: [00:20:31] Is that.

Kelli Hess: [00:20:32] Don't light a match Being able to release years of compilation of people having collected these materials. We're really feeling good about that. And then back to your question of do we ever see it being open or more free flowing hours? We think we'll get there, we think we'll get there, but we need to like, take these small steps out of the gate to make sure that we can manage what people are bringing in.

Juanita Vero: [00:20:52] Have we missed anything you want to celebrate or highlight?

Kelli Hess: [00:20:56] No, I said it before, but it is really unique for a nonprofit and a municipality, right? Working with the county as closely as we have. That's unique. You don't see that in every community. And I just think that we're so very fortunate in Missoula to have this opportunity have minds around the table that are willing to, like, sort through all of the things we were saying before. I know we're calling it the last.

Josh Slotnick: [00:21:17] Best has a great name.

Kelli Hess: [00:21:19] It is. Thanks. But we have not been calling it hazardous waste. We call it household chemical because there's so much red tape, because there's so many rules as there should be to getting rid of challenging chemicals. And, and so.

Juanita Vero: [00:21:32] That are also so common that people think that they're innocuous because they're so common, but they still.

Kelli Hess: [00:21:37] Buy all of the stuff at ace, right? You could walk into the local hardware store with no age restriction. You could just buy all of this stuff. But then what do you do with it? And how do we and Missoula make sure that it does not land in our aquifer? I've heard that in some places our aquifer is like six feet underground. Yeah, right. It's so very close to the surface. And so this for a place that's as magical and beautiful as, as Missoula is.

Juanita Vero: [00:21:59] Our drinking water.

Kelli Hess: [00:22:00] Our drinking water. Right. Having that and having groups of people and different types of entities that are willing to work together to make it happen, it's just magical. I'm really proud of it.

Juanita Vero: [00:22:10] And I think folks also don't think about the human on the other end of your disposal, like, yeah, and the importance for our sanitation workers and our landfill. Those are your your neighbors and your friends who are doing absolutely doing that work and handling those hazardous materials.

Josh Slotnick: [00:22:24] Safety concerns, too. Yeah. I really like what you said about the unique relationship. Local government cannot alone do all of the public good We are. We have to work closely with our nonprofit sector and folks in the private sector understanding there's just too much work to be done and not enough money. And only by working together can we even make a dent. You guys are true leaders there.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:22:44] Thank you. Thank you.

Juanita Vero: [00:22:45] So lucky to have you. Oh, before we close. Okay, here's.

Josh Slotnick: [00:22:49] Our favorite question.

Juanita Vero: [00:22:50] Yes. This is. Yes. Okay. Share with us a good book or nugget of wisdom or a sound bite or something that you've you've come across.

Kelli Hess: [00:22:57] Well, I have two I have two things. And one is first, I got to give a shout out to my friend Becky Douglas, who's one of the co-owners of Heritage Timber, one of the local deconstruction units in town. And she turned me on to this. And so it's the Ologies podcast. You all listen to the Ologies.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:23:11] Oh, tell us about it.

Kelli Hess: [00:23:12] Yeah it is. I had to write down the name. Ali Ward is the host of it, and it's it's magical. Everything. The most recent episode was Chicken Ologies and I'm a chicken.

Juanita Vero: [00:23:21] Yes I have. I listen to all you pigeons. Okay?

Josh Slotnick: [00:23:24] Pigeons as a pigeon.

Juanita Vero: [00:23:26] Have a fantastic pigeon ology. Okay, well.

Kelli Hess: [00:23:29] Go back to an episode I should have guessed. Go back to an episode from last November and there was one that was a discard anthropology. And they called it garbage ology. Garbage garbology. I don't know. Nice. And this woman that is interviewed does the whole thing, becomes the sanitation worker in New York City and really, like, dives in to figure out just was trying to learn everything about the process of our trash system, but then does a little research into like the anthropology of it we didn't use to discard near as much as we do. There was not single use things in the world, and so things were used over and over and over again. And anyway, I highly recommend the Ologies podcast. It's a way that I love to learn. It's a way that I love to listen. And it's different topics every week or month or that it is. But that garbage one.

Juanita Vero: [00:24:19] Is is.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:24:19] Fascinating.

Josh Slotnick: [00:24:20] That's super cool. Thanks for the tip. Thanks.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:24:22] Thanks for joining us.

Kelli Hess: [00:24:23] Oh my goodness. I'm so glad to be here. Thanks for the work that you do and serving the service that you provide.

Juanita Vero: [00:24:28] Thanks. Thank you so much Kelli.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:24:30] You bet.

Josh Slotnick: [00:24:30] See you later. Thanks for listening to the agenda. If you enjoy these conversations, it would mean a lot if you would rate and review the show on whichever podcast app you use.

Juanita Vero: [00:24:39] And if you know a friend who would like to keep up with what's happening in local government, be sure to recommend this podcast to them.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:24:45] The agenda with the Missoula County Commissioners is made possible with support from Missoula Community Access Television, better known as MCAT, and our staff in the Missoula County Communications Division.

Josh Slotnick: [00:24:57] If you have a question or a topic you'd like us to discuss on a future episode, email it to communications@missoulacounty.us.

Juanita Vero: [00:25:05] To find out other ways to stay up to date with what's happening in Missoula County, go to Missoula.co/countyupdates.

Dave Strohmaier: [00:25:12] Thanks for listening.