Goodbye, Mr. Mulch
‘Paul had such character, and we honor his many contributions to the City and the planet.’
– John Hawkins, LACEA Association CEO
Paul C. Blount, a Retired Operations Manager in Public Works/Sanitation and Environment’s Solid Resource Engineering section; a solid resources recycling and mulch expert; a former Club Board Member, committee member and department representative; a trade instructor; a US Army veteran in Special Operations during the Vietnam War; and subject of an Alive! cover story in April 2010; died in Florida in late October. He was 80 and survived by his wife, Peggy Porter. He retired in 2014 with 46 years of City service.
Paul worked in collecting operations for Sanitation for about half his career, but transferred into recycling in the late 1990s. It changed his life.
“I am interested in waste management,” he told Alive! “I have spent most of my career in the collection side, and then I had an opportunity to come over to this side. I didn’t realize that there was so much more going on than was apparent. Once I saw this, it became just fascinating to me, and I became more and more interested. It’s turned into a passion.” In addition to his work duties, he became a dedicated producer of his own household’s mulch at that time.
While working for the City, he also taught solid resources recycling at LA Trade Tech and UCLA Extension for many years.
“Paul had such character, and we honor his many contributions to the City and the planet,” said LACEA Association CEO John Hawkins. “The Club is grateful for all the ways he supported us during his City career and in his retirement.”
“I remember seeing Paul not just at the Club offices but at a West LA Sanitation open house,” remembered Club CEO Robert Larios. “He was a senior level City employee, yet there he was working a booth teaching people about recycling and mulching. He was that passionate about it.
“Paul was a pioneer. Solid recycling existed at Sanitation before he arrived, but he managed it well and took it to another place, just as we were all getting serious about sustainability. And through his many years of service to the Club on our Board, he helped make us a stronger association for Club Members and City employees.”
The Club sends it condolences to Paul’s widow, Peggy, his family members and former colleagues.
A brief obituary can be found here.
