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Alex Bibicoff and Geo Bitgood

During the seven years he lived in a shack he had built in the woods near Florence, Alex Bibicoff sometimes came into town after midnight to pull recyclable material from dumpsters. "It was a foolproof way to make myself feel better," he says. Now a resident of the Rainbow Valley community near Lorane, he began work last year with the Saturday Market set-up crew. "It became apparent that no one else liked to recycle," says Bibicoff, who was pleased to take on the chore. He was joined this year by Geo Bitgood, recently arrived from Arkansas. "I used to come out to visit my grandpa in McKenzie Bridge," she notes. On Saturdays, Bibicoff and Bitgood dig through every bag of trash from the market, separating out compost and recyclables. In June, they achieved a 90 percent diversion rate. Nine bags of garbage per day went to the landfill, as compared to two dumpsters overflowing three years ago. In the photo, the two Bs have just finished a seven-hour shift at the Lane County Fair. "I feel drawn to event recycling," says Bibicoff. "It's in line with my ideas of right livelihood."

happening people

photograph and story by Paul Neevel

Eugene Weekly / 23 August 2007

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