Purdy Recycling Project

08/18/2026

Last Tuesday was historic for us, as we welcomed Region N Solid Waste District members, local officials and DNR representatives for a tour of our building. As you know, it was hot, but we walked and talked through the whole building, and then everyone headed uphill to the school for the Region N monthly board meeting and for a longer version of our 20-year history. It was exciting to have four DNR employees come to see us, several county commissioners and an official from the Missouri General Assembly--about 25 people altogether. We made new contacts, took thoughtful questions and heard solid ideas for improving our operation, plus the chance to say that recycling is still important, that education needs to focus, not on getting people to recycle, but on improving systems so that we can see the benefits right where we live. That was the morning, and we will share the afternoon in our next post.

07/27/2026

Amidst the work to maintain Purdy's recycling program, we also worked on digging this year's crop of daffodil bulbs, from May 12th until the end of June. At the very end, our garden bulbs were practically floating in clay mud, as seen in the first picture, from that 20-inch rainy spell. The digging was hard, but we realized that our bulbs were thriving in heavy clay soil that does not drain well, and this was truly baffling evidence that our emphasis on soil biology is working.

All our bulbs had to be put into drying tunnels at the end of each day, to prevent rotting. And now we we have finally finished the cleaning process, to safely store them until soil temps cool in the fall.

During the cleaning process, we realized a lot about ourselves. Not only were we constantly adding better ways to organize our processes, we were teaching things to each other. One of those was 'pattern recognition', such as quickly grading some bulbs for future sale, and the rest for planting stock. Hanging bags of bulbs requires precise knots that took practice, but the coolest thing was leaning to recognize the way bulbs look in your hands, to count them by fives, add them up and remember the number. We did this work with a fan to blow away the chaff, and it was wonderful to see how just handling the beautiful bulbs (when they don't yet know what the flowers look like) develops an appreciation for them. Our team has gotten really careful, checking for damage or an occasional rotten bulb.

In the last picture, can you count the bulbs within quick glance?

07/17/2026

As we look forward to our monthly 3rd Saturday event, tomorrow from 8:30 until 10:30, we can also tell you that four of our members have now completed a certified forklift trainer course, and it is an unusual thing to add to their résumés. It helps us feel more professional and more organized. We also have a new broker who is going to come to us and pick up all 31 of our cardboard bales, and who seems to want to help us grow, survive and thrive. And one of our members figured out how put us on Google Maps, one more piece of organization.

06/30/2026

Two big pieces of progress to report:

We finally have our own forklift, smaller and handier than the big one we have borrowed from the school for years. And we have guttering installed in the south side of our building, which should help with the erosion there.

Many other projects are in the works, but it sure is nice to check off a few things.

06/19/2026

One of the great joys of working in a business with little capital to risk is the desire to innovate messy processes with simple and effective ideas. In this video, two of our members put their thoughts and passion for recycling oil filters into a fun way to get them out of a deep tote. We will be open this 3rd Saturday from 8:30 a.m. until 10:30, and more than happy to demonstrate our $5 neodymium magnet for you!

06/15/2026

This is what greeted us last Tuesday when we got to recycling, because we had not finished our work the week before. It was daunting, but we got through it all, plus a lot of grant paperwork that has brought our new (used) forklift closer, and that will pay for guttering to prevent the erosion into our loading dock. A few other things look different in the building, and we are slowly moving forward.

But we are down to small crew again, and that is hard. If any of our followers knows anyone, of any age, who finds joy in working to build a stronger community, anyone who is motivated by a sense of common purpose, please consider us. Our members learn work skills, cooperation, mental flexibility, problem-solving and much more, as well as how to grow flowers, fruits and vegetables. Here to Help Purdy is a great place to start or add to a résumé!

05/19/2026

Here is news we have been waiting for, and it is good for now.

Missouri Senate Bill 1586 did not pass this session and has officially died for the year.

We know this issue is far from over, and we fully expect to see similar legislation return next session. The Missouri Recycling Association will continue monitoring developments closely and advocating for the waste management districts that serve communities across our state.

Today, however, we want to express our sincere gratitude to everyone who took the time to contact legislators and share concerns about this bill. We truly believe your outreach and engagement made a real difference in the outcome.

Thank you for standing with Missouri’s recycling and waste management community. We will keep everyone informed as this issue returns next year.

05/19/2026

This is a fairly current picture of our glass bin, and two things are wrong here. Can you identify either one?

We have a lot on our plate, as usual, this week, so this is our to-do list:

That glass bin is too full, so we must call our friends at Doty Trash Service. They will haul it to Monett's big glass bin, from where it will eventually be shipped to Kansas City to make fiberglass insulation.

We have to contact Eagle Logistics about getting a trailer into a ramp.

Three bids for a forklift have to be reviewed, and a decision made. We have our grant money for our own machine, at last.

We must do some serious talking and thinking about our status. We have suddenly lost a number of key members and we are working with a very small crew.

And we have to tell you that those light bulbs in the glass bin are a no-no, because of their metal bases. Just glass, no metal, no ceramic pottery or other materials.

04/14/2026

The Missouri Senate seems to move at a rapid rate, through lots of legal language, but during the hearing for SB 1586 today, things seemed to calm down, as the bill's sponsor explained the many changes he had made to the original bill, and through two lengthy sets of questions from two Democratic senators. The questions were polite, but important, and his answers were detailed. It turned out that this was the 11th version of the bill, and the solid waste districts are not to be abolished yet, not even reduced to the five regional districts laid out in an earlier version.

There will be an interim committee to gather more ideas, and they are even talking about a more comprehensive bill that addresses the whole large picture of landfilling, where "we have been completely stagnant for years," said Senator Brown, the bill's sponsor.

We take it as a victory, or at least a reprieve, but the stakes and the work to do are now even more clear; we have to prove that we can be more effective with less taxpayer money.

All 22 solid waste districts will receive a 10% cut in funding, while the DNR's share of landfill tipping fees will increase from 39 to 49%. We will be asking that the DNR also justify its share of the funding, in support of effective ways to keep materials out of landfills.

04/13/2026

Our life story turns another page: we just received notice that Senate bill 1586 (to abolish solid waste districts and turn them over to regional boards) is coming back at 4:00 today. A substitute bill will be offered, and we have read through the new language, but one quick reading did not help much. We are trying to figure out how to get the live feed, to listen and possibly get a key question to Senator Moon, that he might be able to ask on the Senate floor.

04/12/2026

Not only is our building piled high with cardboard, there is too much to tell you, but we have to share some pieces:

Per Senator Moon's office, senate Bill 1586 (abolishing solid waste districts) has been sent to the 'informal docket' because it encountered serious resistance on the senate floor. It could return, but only after someone works on it. We hope to help come up with a more comprehensive bill before next year's session.

The State has given approval for our grant funding, mostly to finally get our own forklift, while we are nearly ready to get a new trailer, thanks to Eagle Logistics and Hammens Trucking, who came up with a simple fix.

Our strawberries are in bloom and have berries. Yes, already!

03/24/2026

This mower was recently gifted to our Breakdown project, and because the battery still lit up a light, one of our members really wanted to get it running again. We had to explain to him that we trusted the owners who had declared it junked out, that we were not set up to repair things. But we also saw that his heart was in the right place, for trying not to tear apart something that still seemed to have value.

This picture feels symbolic of our struggle to keep going, since just before all the recent publicity about our daffodils, the big freeze almost completely devastated them, and we do not think that we will have any flowers to sell. It was strangely harsh across Oklahoma and Missouri, so now we have to hope that our bulbs recover and grow well for the rest of the season. And we will keep on recycling whatever we can.