The drop-off station at the Terrace Heights Landfill is dirty, dusty and loud, with a giant loader roaring around pushing garbage into piles in the corner. It sweeps by with terrifying speed, pushing a mound of smashed cabinets and branches, picking up a couch, a tinseled Christmas tree, and what looks like a perfectly good lamp along the way. It鈥檚 just a tiny portion of the 720 tons of trash the residents of Yakima County drop off at this landfill every day.
Pickup trucks piled with garbage wait for a worker in an orange vest and hard hat to wave them over to a drop-off spot. They can鈥檛 miss Lori Rae Amodio. Her hot pink hard hat sports a Seahawks logo on one side, a Mariners logo on the other, and a big rhinestone 鈥淟鈥� on the front. Her personality sparkles as brightly as the rhinestones on her hat as she smiles and jokes with customers.
Working at a landfill was not what she planned for her life. She started in sales, then retail management. But she鈥檚 always loved sewing, so when a job as a seamstress at Yakima Tent & Awning came up 鈥� it seemed perfect. After a few years she realized that wasn鈥檛 the right fit either. 鈥淚 love being a seamstress and I still do it, but doing it for a living kind of took the joy out of it,鈥� she says. She was working at the Parks Department when she saw the job as a maintenance technician at the landfill. It was a union job with good pay, benefits, and a pension.
She knew it would be tough, but she went for it. 鈥淥riginally 鈥� it was just not a girl鈥檚 job. There were women in the scale house, but I was the first female to actually be a maintenance worker,鈥� she says, and grins. 鈥淚 was told numerous times 鈥� you鈥檒l only make it six days, you鈥檒l only make it six weeks, six months 鈥� they were taking bets. At six years, I brought a cake.鈥� Lori Rae鈥檚 been there for 11 years now. She says the pink hard hat is more about practicality than making a statement. 鈥淚 work with all guys, and the first week, one of the guys accidentally grabbed my hard hat and put it on. After that, I got a pink one. Nobody鈥檚 stolen my hard hat since.鈥�
It鈥檚 not an easy job, as the description makes clear: 鈥淲ork is performed primarily outdoors for extended periods and under unfavorable weather conditions. Requires climbing, stooping, crouching, crawling, pushing, pulling and lifting.鈥�
鈥淵ou have to be able to lift 50-100 pounds on a regular basis,鈥� she explains. 鈥淵ou have to be able to trudge up and down these hillsides, which are very steep and crumbly, and pick litter. The first couple months it was pretty difficult, but now I call it mountain goatin鈥� up the hillside.鈥� She鈥檚 49 now, and she can still do it.
When I ask her about the smell she doesn鈥檛 say a word. She simply smiles and pulls a neon-green neckerchief over her mouth and nose, so I can barely see her eyes. She says the benefits of the job outweigh drawbacks like that. She loves the camaraderie of working with the team of seven other technicians. She loves meeting new people and greeting her regulars. Plus 鈥� this job is never boring. She wants to write a book someday, called 鈥淚 Saw it at The Landfill.鈥�
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