Abigail Metsch

With a background in broadcast journalism, Abigail Metsch, public relations and multimedia manager for the Brazos Valley Solid Waste Management Agency (BVSWMA) and Twin Oaks Landfill, never expected to find herself in the waste industry.

While working as a news anchor for a local station near College Station, Texas, she visited the Twin Oaks Landfill for a story on the agency’s Twin Oaks Renewables project, which included developing a facility to capture landfill gas and upgrade it to high-quality renewable natural gas.

BVSWMA Executive Director Bryan Griesbach spent a few hours giving Metsch a tour, and the two stayed in touch, with Griesbach often sending story ideas about what the agency was up to. When Metsch’s contract at the news station was set to end, BVSMWA was looking to hire a team member to handle public relations (PR), and Griesbach alerted her of the position.

“After that conversation, we met for coffee, and the rest is history,” she says.

Metsch is now seven months into the role, and she already has made an impact on BVSWMA’s outreach and education efforts within the community. With an emphasis on storytelling and interactive, visually appealing communications, she has created video series and other media to reach broader audiences.

In the following interview with Waste Today, Metsch shares how she’s adapting to her new role and what she hopes to bring to the solid waste industry.

"As the PR manager, it’s my job to convince people that whatever story we’re telling matters and that they should care about it.”

Waste Today (WT): How has your experience translated to your current role? Have there been any parallels?

Abigail Metsch (AM): There are a ton of parallels that I found between journalism and public relations, and I actually believe that my background as a TV news anchor makes me an even better public relations manager.

When you want your community to know about something that’s happening at your site, or maybe just in the industry as a whole, you tend to lean on local TV, radio and other media publications to help spread the word. But if you’ve ever tried to pitch a story, then you know that not every story is picked up. It’s all about how you sell it and who you sell it to.

As the PR manager, it’s my job to convince people that whatever story we’re telling matters and that they should care about it.

WT: What do you hope to bring to your current role? How has your multimedia experience been beneficial?

AM: I think that coming into this role having little to no knowledge about the solid waste industry has served us well. There are experts at the Twin Oaks Landfill and, really, across the solid waste industry who live and breathe it, and they need someone to help them communicate things in layman’s terms.

If you have a conversation with someone who has been in this industry for 20 years, you’re [not] going to understand what they’re saying. … They’re going to the WasteCons and other conferences like that, and they’re speaking to people who understand [them]. But when you’re trying to get the point across to someone like me or to someone else that has no knowledge of what you’re talking about, it’s going to be kind of confusing and overwhelming. A lot of the time that means that people are not doing the research or going the extra mile to uncover the truth about what’s going on in the solid waste industry.

So, that’s what I’m doing for BVSWMA. I’m able to take these complicated topics, like converting landfill gas to clean energy, and I’m able to explain what that means in a way that our everyday community members can also understand.