Blog: City Blog

Sustainability Champion: Patience Melnik

In celebration of Earth Month 2022, the City's Office of Sustainability is showcasing three exceptional employees who have been integral to our sustainability focus areas: energy, transportation, and waste.

Patience Melnik
Waste and Resources Manager, Public Service
4 years in current role & City

Patience Melnik manages solid waste services for the public, including trash and recycling. She oversees more than $10 million in contract and in-house services to collect and haul materials, process and store waste, and perform environmental cleanups -- all while providing customer service to the public and coordinating with contractors. She and Makenzie Read, the City’s Waste and Resources Coordinator, both provide education to the public.

MAKING CORE SERVICES MORE SUSTAINABLE

Patience firmly believes that responsible waste management is a huge part of reducing environmental and climate impact, and feels a professional obligation to make the City’s core waste services as sustainable as possible.

“Our landfill contractor is actually going above and beyond to trap methane gas from decaying waste and reusing it as fuel – which reduces emissions." She adds: "Our Household Hazardous Waste Center is incredible. They’re keeping dangerous materials out of the landfill and processing them safely, at no cost to residents of the whole county. The staff took the initiative to launch a free community ‘reuse shelf’ so residents can get the items they need and give a second life to usable items. It’s a great way to help residents reduce their waste footprint and avoid buying a whole new product when it’s not always needed.”

The Waste team also celebrated several recycling milestones this year: more than half of Knoxville households now have curbside recycling service; more than a third of recycling is done at drop-off centers; and a recent audit revealed that our recycling is significantly "cleaner" than other communities’.

“We found that our recycling stream has a contamination rate of 17 percent, compared to a national average of 25 percent," says Melnik. "We’re thrilled that the community is doing such a great job. Of course, we still found ‘wish-cycled’ items that weren’t actually recyclable, but this shows that more people are paying attention to what can and can’t be recycled."

She attributes Knoxville’s success to ongoing education efforts by the City and strong partnerships with organizations like Keep Knoxville Beautiful and Goodwill Industries.

PILOTING SOLUTIONS TO REDUCE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

In addition to reducing the environmental impact of our trash and recycling services, Patience is passionate about efforts to divert waste before it even reaches the landfill, where it produces powerful gases that drive climate change.

“I had been talking to community partners about a compost program for years, so we were ready to jump when the stars finally aligned,” she says.

In February 2022, the Waste and Resources team launched the Knoxville Compost Pilot Program. It’s a public-private partnership: the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation provided funding; City Possum Farm built the solar-powered composter, and Patience’s team collects organic waste and transports it to Battlefield Farm, where it is processed into compost that will be added to vegetable beds.

The pilot has seen extraordinary early success. In just six weeks since launch, over 80 people have dropped off more than 1,100 pounds of organic waste at the collection site in the Old City. Contamination has been very low, likely due to the in-depth educational quiz participants must complete in order to unlock the new green drop-off bins. And the bins have generated a lot of excitement from the public - Patience says she’s already been asked if the pilot will be expanded, and she’s preparing to scale up in case City leaders decide to grow the program.

“I’m most excited about seeing organic material from our community return to garden beds at Battlefield Farm, and for food to grow out of materials that would’ve otherwise turned into greenhouse gases in a landfill,” she says.

She’s looking forward to sharing more information at the free and public Bread-to-Tap Food Waste Awareness event on Saturday, April 9, at Crafty Bastard Brewery.

Posted by ptravis On 31 March, 2022 at 11:02 PM