Bainbridge Islandwide Litter Cleanup

April is Earth Month, so choose a day to go out and pick up a nearby roadway or trash-strewn area.

Kitsap’s Adopt-a-Spot folks and Bainbridge Disposal are making it easy by providing bags and free trash disposal, respectively. Just stop by the front courtyard of the Bainbridge Disposal office at Coppertop and look for the bin containing bags and a guidelines sheet (see below). Then follow the directions for a successful clean-up.  You can even email Zero Waste to arrange to borrow a grabber.

Before you start

• Choose a roadway or area.
• Wear bright, reflective clothing if picking up along a road.
• Use the white Kitsap trash bag if you want to dispose of litter for free this April.
• Borrow a grabber, if you like, from Zero Waste. Request from bizerowaste@sustainablebainbridge.org.
  
  When you finish
• Set your white Kitsap bag of trash next to a regular garbage can (with permission if not yours) or take to the transfer station and let the booth attendant know how many bags you have. Bainbridge Disposal is tracking how many bags are collected.
• Empty your bag of recyclables into your curbside recycling cart. (Do not recycle the plastic bag in the cart.)
• Please send bizerowaste@sustainablebainbridge.org a short email to say the following:

1. General location of pick-up
2. Name of group or organization if a collective clean-up
3. Number of bags of trash
4. Number of bags of recyclables
5. Optional but encouraged: photos and anecdotes

         What to do with certain recyclables

• Dirt-filled glass bottles – Put in trash.
• Dirty, cracked plastic bottles – Put in trash.
• Liquid-filled bottles that you can’t empty – Put in trash.
• Dirt-filled aluminum cans – Put in trash.
• Completely flat aluminum cans – Recycle in scrap metal at the transfer station or put in the trash. (If flat cans get put in curbside recycling, they tend to get separated with paper at the sorting facility, contaminating the paper stream.)

           General safety guidelines

• Do not pick up anything hazardous, sharp, large or heavy. This includes needles (even if they’re contained), chemical containers with liquids, containers with unknown liquids, furniture, tires, etc.
• We don’t encourage anyone to empty containers for recycling because they may contain needles or biohazardous liquid.
• Highway cleanups are not advised.
• High-visibility clothing is required for roadsides.