After 7 years at Oregon State, John Deuel, OSU’s Campus Recycling Manager retired for the second time in his career. John joined OSU in 2017 after working for the city of Norfolk for over 20 years, starting a sustainability consulting company, and leading workshops with Keep America Beautiful.
In his time here, he had worked tirelessly to solve materials management issues across campus, promote waste reduction, and provide his team, primarily students, a positive and safe work environment. He often worked with campus partners to implement new or improved ways to divert as much waste as possible away from landfills and into the recycling or composting streams. He also spent some of his time overseeing special projects like waste audits, outreach campaigns, and sustainability double degree practicums.
Beyond his conventional duties, he enjoyed attending events and forums to learn more about and weigh in on sustainability efforts impacting Oregon State and the surrounding community. John never shied away from going out into the field and carrying out hands-on work in part to improve the processes that were carried out by student staff across campus. He emphasized the importance of safety, professional development, and connection with his team and has made a profound impact on the lives of his employees and coworkers; an impact that will live on beyond his time at Materials Management.
Outside of his work at OSU, he is actively involved in the “Benton County Talks Trash” workgroup that connects the community with members of various county government and waste management employees about the landfill and its expansion. John also serves as a volunteer “Block Captain” for the Corvallis Sustainability Coalition where he informs his community on various methods to reduce waste as well as recycle and compost correctly. Lastly, he enjoys staying active by biking, walking his mini–Australian Shepherd, and carrying out various projects at his wife’s vintage shop, The Philomath Emporium.
He has served our campus and community invaluably during his time at OSU and plans to continue doing what he can to educate and activate his community in reducing, reusing, and recycling. Thank you John for all you’ve done and we are excited to see what your retirement holds for you!
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