Sustainable First Mondays
Towards Zero Waste
REDUCE
"Reduce" means using fewer resources. This is the most effective of the three R's and the place to begin.
Action Tips...
- Just say no to plastic bottles. You can do it! Carry stainless steel re-fillable water bottles and buy products in glass containers.
- End your addiction to plastic and paper bags.
- Buy products made from post-consumer recycled materials, especially paper and bathroom tissue.
- Avoid packaged goods. Buy food in large quantities or in bulk whenever possible.
- Vote with your dollars. When comparing products, consider giving preference to those with less packaging.
- Get rid of unwanted mail. Link to New Dream to take action.
- Educate the seller. When ordering online or over the phone, include a message requesting zero plastic or Styrofoam packaging.
- Educate yourself about the dangers of PVC. Check out this list of PVC-free products.
Resources...
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Foam Free Seattle has successfully helped ban Styrofoam-type products and other one-use disposable plastics in Seattle. Their newest effort is bag reduction campaign.
REUSE
Reuse is the heart of waste prevention.
Action Tips...
- Take Packing peanuts and other foam products to the UPS store on High School Road or call the Peanut Hotline at (800) 828-2214, a toll-free, automated 24-hour service.
- Invest in rechargeable batteries and a battery charger. Link here for More Information.
- Give your plastic nursery pots to the Persephone Farm at the B.I.Farmers’ Market.
- Take unwanted vases or baskets (plastic or otherwise) to Changing Seasons Island Florist on High School Road.
- Return your dry cleaning plastic covering to the Hildebrand Cleaners on Hildebrand Ave.
Resources...
- The Really, Really Free Market- It's a movement!
- The FreeCycle Network- Network to promote waste reduction and help save landscape from being taken over by landfills. Groups on Bainbridge and Kitsap.
- 2 Good 2 Toss- 2good2toss is Washington’s online exchange for reusable building materials and household items. Listings available for Kitsap County.
RECYCLE
Recycle and buy recycled! If you are sending your waste to be recycled, but don’t purchase recycled content in the products you buy, then in theory, you are not completing a cycle, and not truly recycling.
Action Tips...
- Visit the Kitsap County Public Works website to find out where to recycle various goods and materials.
- Ship your expanded polystyrene to the Alliance of Foam Packaging Recycles.
- Visit Earth 911 to search for drop-off locations for all kinds of recyclables. http://earth911.org.
- Set up your household to make recycling easier. Keep labeled, recycling waste containers in strategic locations throughout the house.
- Take your clean plastic bags to the receptacles outside Safeway.
- Recycle your own food and yard waste. Start a worm bin or utilize Bainbridge Disposal's food and yard waste program.
- Play the Garbage Game.
Resources...
-
Bainbridge Disposal guide to recycling services.
- Kitsap County Public Works resources for hard to recycle items.
- King County Zero Waste Strategy- Information on their new recycling and solid waste services.
- The Zero Waste for Zero Warming campaign is strengthening community-driven movements that challenge the wasting and warming cycle, and fighting to make sure that not another dime of our taxpayer money goes to trashing the climate.
- Eco-Cycle Media Presents Zero Waste Systems.
COMMUNITY ACTIONS
- Contact Sustainable Bainbridge to get involved with a "zero waste" initiative.
- Adopt-A-Road. Contact Kitsap County Public Works Solid Waste Division at
(360) 337-5777. - Appreciate your surroundings and keep it clean from plastic pollution. Join the Bainbridge Island beach seine team for a special Saturday event June 6th, 8:20am-3:00pm. (The subsequent seine events are scheduled for 6/19, 7/2, 7/17, 7/31, 8/14, and 8/21.) Beach seining is a great way to learn about the nearshore environment, Bainbridge Island, and marine ecology from a hands-on perspective; it’s also a lot of fun. Contact Colin Spikes, shorelineintern@ci.bainbridge-isl.wa.us.
- Take legislative action on behalf of reducing plastic marine debris. Go to www.healthebay.org or www.cleanseascoalition.org.
- Join People for the Puget Sound is a citizens' group established to protect and restore the health of our land and waters through education and action.
- Join WSU Beach Watchers are members of communities around Puget Sound who are dedicated to learning about its creatures, landscape and natural resources so that we can better protect this priceless heritage.