Russ (Nobbs) recycles

The 9th Annual Spokane River Clean-up kicked off Saturday at locations throughout Spokane, and as sure as there was plenty of trash to gather, Russ Nobbs was there. Since 2006, Nobbs, the longtime owner of Rings & Things, has been a recycling partner in the giant clean-up effort powered by 800-plus volunteers. However, his dedication to recycling and living sustainably has long been a blessing to Spokane, turning almost every major local event into an eye-opener of just how important and how easy it can be to minimize one’s impact. “I’m not really sure where the thought process started, it just made sense to me, it was what I did,” said Nobbs. In 2010, Nobbs and other clean-up volunteers sorted 2 tons of recycling from the almost 6 tons of trash collected. Prior to Nobbs’ involvement, everything collected was considered garbage due to the event’s limited resources. “Kitty Klitze, then of the Lands Council, knew I was passionate about recycling and asked me to become involved and push for recycling,” said Nobbs. Nobbs’ ideas of interacting gently with the Earth began while growing up on a fruit farm in Lake Erie, N.Y. They eventually led him to Davenport, Wash., in the early 1960s, where he helped with an organic farm start-up called Tolstoy Farm. Nobbs had met Tolstoy’s founder, Huw “Piper” Williams, on a peace walk in Washington D.C., and was intrigued by Williams’ invitation to come West. After spending five years on the farm, Nobbs moved to Spokane in 1966 to start Rings & Things. While traveling to fairs and shows to exhibit his jewelry, Nobbs noticed a lot of cans and bottles that could be recycled being thrown away. At the Columbia Music Festival one year, he placed a can labeled ‘recycling’ next to the garbage can. It quickly filled up. “The key is to keep the cans close together to make it as easy as possible,” said Nobbs. “That gives them an easy choice, can I recycle this or not?” For four years, Nobbs was the Festival’s recycling program. Soon after, he began the same effort at ArtFest, now going on 20-plus years. Three years ago, he added a 5-gallon compost bin at the event to collect food scraps; this year he collected 80 gallons of compost and hopes ArtFest will soon become a “zero-waste” event, like the Bloomsday Corporate Cup Commons was this year, thanks to his longtime efforts to increase the run’s recycling efforts. Nobbs also heads recycling efforts at Pig Out in the Park, Hoopfest, Earth Day, SpokeFest, Inland Empire Garden Expo, and all street fairs throughout Spokane. And he does it free of charge, while continuing to run the thriving retail and mail-order jewelry business he started 45 years ago. “(Recycling) does take a lot of my time but obviously I wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t want to,” said Nobbs. “The whole thing is to illustrate that we can do this…here’s the owner of a multi-million dollar business, digging in the garbage, getting his hands dirty… it’s the little changes in the way we do things, we just have to change our habits.” Rings & Things was one of the first businesses three years ago to be certified sustainable by the City of Spokane’s SMART (Sustainable Management of Assets, Resources and Technology) Business Recognition Program, by implementing green and sustainable management practices in the categories of Waste Reduction and of Transportation. “I have a great group of employees that help me with the recycling at these events,” said Nobbs. “I’ve seen my influence on them and efforts throughout Spokane, and it feels good; it makes it all that much more worth it.”