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Master Recycler Composter volunteers logged 16,582 hours in 2025; program shifts training format
Summary
County program managers reported 224 volunteers supported outreach and demonstration gardens in 2025, with 16,582 volunteer hours recorded and a change to daytime, twice‑monthly training designed to increase hands‑on opportunities and field trips.
Corey Carlton, program manager for the Master Recycler Composter Volunteer Program, told the Thurston County Solid Waste Advisory Committee that the volunteer program recorded 16,582 combined hours in 2025 and is adjusting training to boost hands‑on learning and outreach.
Carlton said 54 Master Recycler Composter (MRC) volunteers contributed 2,168 hours in 2025, while 170 Master Gardener volunteers contributed 14,414 hours. The program counts 224 active volunteers overall and was training 16 new volunteers in a daytime, twice‑monthly format that runs through March 20, 2026.
The daytime training allowed site visits and facility tours that are difficult to schedule with evening classes, Carlton said, listing tours to Silver Springs Organics, the county waste and recovery center and Pioneer Recycling as examples. Program staff added a circular‑economy module and invited outside experts (including a King County circular economy manager and a Department of Ecology presenter) to the class this cycle.
Jenny Post, program assistant, described community programming: the program ran 421 Q&A clinics and logged more than 20,000 inquiries in 2025; ran 384 garden service parties across three demonstration gardens (about five acres combined); and offered roughly 40 public workshops. The program also ran a children’s garden summer series that engaged 30 children plus chaperones and harvested produce for the Thurston County Food Bank.
Members asked whether the program reports diversion metrics attributable to volunteer activities. Carlton said diversion accounting is part of the county’s solid‑waste data collection and that MRC staff will look into whether program‑specific diversion numbers can be provided for future briefings. He also said volunteers routinely provide written feedback describing behavior changes prompted by outreach.
Corey Carlton and Jenny Post said the program will continue the daytime training format for a two‑year trial and is planning demonstration garden irrigation upgrades and composting infrastructure projects funded by grants and foundation fundraising. They encouraged members to visit upcoming community events where volunteers will staff outreach booths.
The committee requested that staff report diversion metrics where available at a future meeting to better quantify the program’s material impact.
