By Andrea Damewood

Tossing an empty yogurt container into a blue bin is commendable, she said, but it's no longer enough; sustainability is now the buzz in conservation circles.

And the nonprofit's Planet Improvement Center, slated to open early next year, will help Daniel shout BRING's new message from the (solar-paneled) rooftops.

Daniel, 54, who said she tries - but usually fails - to work less than 50 hours a week, has been the driving force in raising nearly $3 million to convert an old trailer sales site in Glenwood into what she calls a "theme park of waste reduction, reuse and recycling."

"It's a community gathering place where we can showcase sustainable living skills," Daniel said of the center, which will house BRING's current business of building material resale, along with additional space for educational programs and other ventures.

As she walked through the unfinished center, Daniel, a native of England, described every sustainable feature, no matter how minute: from the solar panels to a green roof and landscaping with native plants.

Daniel acknowledges that sustainability - which requires a much greater lifestyle change than simply having a recycling bin - may prove difficult to introduce into the mainstream.

But seeing people take baby steps toward conservation has made the long hours and 10 years working in an office with no indoor plumbing worth it, she said.

"It's difficult to change your behavior, but people, in general, care about the environment," she said. "What keeps me going is the recognition that many people making small changes in aggregate adds up to a huge change."

Born in Kingston-upon-Thames, a southwestern suburb of London, Daniel's life likely started out wildly different than those of many of her conservation counterparts.

Daniel was educated at Roedean, a posh boarding school that resembles Harry Potter's Hogwarts. There, she said, "I don't think it ever occurred to me that I would have a job and work."

But after graduation, like many in the early '70s, she said she wanted an adventure, and felt the call on the West Coast in the states.

"One of the things I loved about America is that social background did not have the same weight as in England," she said of her desire to shed her upper-crust image. "You really can reinvent yourself in a way on the West Coast that you could not do in Europe."

She made her way up the coast, where she got married and set up a homestead in Deadwood, where she and her husband grew their own crops and raised their own chickens.

She also had three children, now 21, 24 and 33.

After a divorce in 1995, she moved to Eugene, searching for work and yet another new definition of herself.

"You could say my life has been `reduce, reuse, recycle and reinvent,' " she joked. "I've had several eras in my life that were all very different."

A friend told her about an open position as an office assistant at BRING. She worked in the office until 1998, when the previous director left, and Daniel volunteered to take his place.

Together with a co-director, David Wollner, Daniel worked to find a new direction for the business as in-home recycling became commonplace.

"I became invested in the operation, and excited about what could be done," Daniel said. "Sustainability was just a flicker on the horizon."

After restructuring in 2002, Daniel was named executive director. That same year, the first leaves of an idea for the Planet Improvement Center sprouted, and Daniel became the articulator of BRING's message of sustainability.

"Julie's kind of the heart of the business," Wollner said. "She's very passionate about BRING. She brings a public face that's very bright and outgoing. It's a wonderful experience to know Julie."

JULIE DANIEL
Job: Executive Director of BRING Recycling
Birthplace: Kingston-upon-Thames, a southwest suburb of London
History at BRING: Started in 1996 as an office assistant