The people behind our program: Turning data, research, and a passion for prevention into real change

The Hazardous Waste Management Program recently recognized Alice Chapman and Myles Perkins with Quarterly Excellence Awards, an accolade the Program gives to highlight impactful employee contributions. Award winners exemplify the good work that the program sets out to do every day, and Chapman and Perkins were easy choices. Their awards aren’t the reason for this story, though. They are the doorway into it: a chance to spotlight the people behind our work, and how their roles shape safer outcomes for people, businesses, and the environment across King County.

Chapman has worked in environmental protection long enough to see many of the positive changes in the Haz Waste Program and King County communities firsthand. With a background in chemical engineering, she began her career in 1993 as a water quality coordinator before moving on to pollution prevention, research, and eventually  her current role on the Haz Waste Program’s Business Services team.

“I’m really liking the role I have now,” Chapman said. “I can take all the experience and knowledge I’ve gained and bring it to the team.”

The Business Services Program offers free consultations to small businesses in King County, helping owners identify safer alternatives and practices that reduce toxic exposures for employees, customers, and the environment. Chapman’s work grounds these services. She manages the system that captures what the team is doing, what’s changing as a result of their visits, and where the program can be more effective.

“I love telling the stories of what the team does,” Chapman said.

"The system isn’t flashy, she jokes.“It’s like a Mercedes Gullwing - a stick shift with knobs and buttons, but the information is there. And when you know where to look, it tells a rich story.”

Those stories show how many visits the team completes, what changes businesses make, and how those changes translate into measurable improvements.

“We have more changes to count this year, and it’s really exciting,” Chapman said. “And there’s still more to do.”

Chapman grew up surrounded by oyster farms and forests in the South Puget Sound during the 1970s, the era of the very first Earth Day. Nature has always been part of who she is. Early in her career, she worked as an environmental compliance officer at a shipyard in Bremerton, ensuring operations weren’t polluting surrounding waters.

“It’s really exciting that there were problems we used to deal with that we don’t deal with anymore,” she said.

The work has always come back to people. 

“It’s very rewarding work,” Chapman said. “I go home knowing I helped contribute to protecting people and the environment.”

She’s particularly motivated by the everyday chemicals that make their way into homes and workplaces.

“We have far too many of these chemicals coming into our lives, and it’s affecting our health,” she said. “You can easily find literature showing the harm of everyday chemical use and the need to eliminate them when there are better alternatives.”

“That’s why we need programs like ours,” she added. “To fight the tide, or at least help interpret how to keep people safe.”

That same focus on prevention is what drew Myles Perkins to the Haz Waste Program. Perkins leads the Program’s Research Team, joining in 2024 after eight years with the Washington State Department of Ecology’s Hazardous Waste Toxic Reduction Program. From that work, he already knew the Haz Waste Program well and respected its reputation.

“The Haz Waste Program is known for doing great work in and for the community,” Perkins said. “It’s also seen as a leader on promoting safer alternatives in community and at small businesses.”

At the state level, much of Perkins' work focused on providing pollution prevention technical assistance to larger businesses. While important, he was eager to support local businesses and work with community, which don’t typically have the means or resources to reduce the use of toxic chemicals.

“I wanted to work for smaller businesses and communities,” he said. “It’s exciting because  there is a direct link between the research our team does and preventing exposures in the first place.”

That prevention mindset is central to the Haz Waste Program’s approach of using research to identify safer products, understand emerging chemical risks, and support education and outreach that stop hazardous problems before they start.

The connection between environmental protection and human health is personal for Perkins. He grew up in New Mexico, spending time hiking and exploring the outdoors, including the La Luz Trail near Albuquerque. Those early experiences shaped his understanding that people and the environment are interdependent.

“Human health and protecting people are very much connected to protecting the environments we spend our time in,” he said.

Together, Chapman and Perkins represent different sides of the same mission. One tells the story of impact through data, and the other builds the research foundation that makes prevention possible. Their experiences and passions exemplify the mission of the Haz Waste Program.