Talking trash: The ‘Trash Queen’ tells all

By MARY GREENE

NORTH BRANCH, NY — “People have too much stuff,” said Kathy Rieser, better known in these parts as the Trash Queen. And she should know. For the past 20 years, she has made a living collecting, salvaging and dumping people’s stuff.

Much of it goes to the dump. But “I like recycling it any way I can, selling it or giving it away,” she said. She’s bought almost nothing new for her home in North Branch. “And,” she said, “I’ve furnished the homes of many of my friends.”

What kinds of stuff does she salvage?

“Anything I think somebody will buy. Also, stuff I have a hard time throwing away. Something like this,” she said, holding up a child’s red life jacket. “It’s brand new. What could I get for it, a dollar? But it’s just hard to throw away.”

The Trash Queen, trim and fit with a tattoo of “a woman’s symbol with muscles” on her arm, has cleaned some of the messiest basements, barns and houses in Sullivan County. She thinks of it as archeology, a catalog of a bygone life and era. “I’d rather clean somebody’s old chicken barn than a basement any day,” she said.

What got her started?

“I had a pickup truck and a big mortgage and no income,” she said. “My first ad said, ‘Overwhelmed with a mess? Call Kathy.’ The phone started ringing, and it just hasn’t stopped.” In the mid-90s she got her first dump truck. At first she hired only women, “as sort of an alternative idea. It was a political thing. And at that time I didn’t want think I wasn’t the strongest person in the world.” But “being 30-something is a lot different than being almost 60,” she admitted. And now it’s more about having good help, regardless of gender. Tomas Nagy, a resident of Fremont Center and North Miami Beach, has worked for Rieser for three years. “He’s the greatest helper you could have,” she said.

Rieser paused in her speedy, efficient sorting and packing of junk on the truck. She scrutinized a multi-colored woven basket. “Hmm. I’ve never seen one quite like that before.” She threw it on her “keep” pile which, while modest, was growing.

Rieser’s card reads “Trash Removal with a Feminist Perspective.” “The only reason I said ‘feminist’ is people weren’t ready yet for ‘lesbian,’ she said. Rieser is active in the gay and lesbian community in the region and has been influential in the gay pride movement. Her show on WJFF, “Outloud and Queer,” has been running for nine years. She is also founder and producer of “A Day to be Gay in the Catskills,” which takes place annually on Labor Day in Callicoon. The Day to be Gay Foundation of Sullivan County, of which Rieser is president, was recently formed for the purpose of raising money and awareness. The foundation this year donated nearly $10,000 to local organizations, including $7,000 to the Delaware Community Center in Callicoon to assist with flood damage.

As Trash Queen, Rieser has collected many observations about human nature. The most bizarre thing she’s encountered, she said, are the obsessive-compulsive disorders, “people who end up hoarding animals, or junk or other stuff. It’s like cleaning house. You learn everything about people. And,” she added, “it’s interesting to see how similar we all are, in what we hide away, where we hide it. Everyone chooses the underwear drawer.”

What was her best find?

“Probably the woman who threw away money. She put it in used envelopes. Twenty dollar bills, in old envelopes.”

Rieser said she wished she’d taken a picture of every load before bringing it to the dump, to have a visual catalog of people’s junk. “I could make it into a coffee-table book,” she joked.

In addition to her business, Rieser has begun selling real estate for Stone Realtors in Roscoe. With regard to the growth and economic development in the county, she said, “It’s nice that people can now make a living more easily. But when you see McMansions going into every hayfield, it’s pretty upsetting. And as always happens with gentrification, the local people can’t afford it anymore. The kids have to either stick a modular on their mother’s property, or they live in a trailer, or they leave. And the people in the McMansions freak out because there is a trailer next door. But people who live in trailers have a right to live there, too.”

To effect change, she said, it’s important for people to begin taking part in local government. “To sit and complain and whine,” she said, “nothing happens.”

What else does Rieser do in her free time? “Well, I work out three times a week,” she said. “And, I garden and take care of my horse, Annie. Those are my loves. That’s what I really want to be doing,” she said.