Participation Opportunities
In 2018, Bainbridge Island Zero Waste volunteers received the Nonprofit of the Year award from the Washington State Recycling Association. Read on to find out how you can become involved in our efforts. If you have questions and/or are interested in anything you see below or something not listed that you might want to initiate, contact Zero Waste director Diane Landry.
Zero Waste Meetings – We try to have six regular 1.5 hour meetings a year, which are part special presenter, part business. Check the ZW front page under events to find out when the next meeting is. (Meetings in 2020 have not yet resumed.)
Farmers Market Green Team – We service the Bainbridge Island Farmers Market every Saturday from April-October. (FMGT for the 2020 season has been suspended.) We aim for at least five GT members, who rotate Saturdays. At the market, there are two discard stations, each with a recycling, compost and landfill container. A green team member arrives around 11:30am to begin sorting compost, recycling and landfill and remains on site till about 10 minutes after the 1pm close. If you would like to join the crew, please email us.
Farmers’ Market Booth – Every third Saturday, April-October, 9am-1pm, Zero Waste sets up a booth. We focus on a different theme each month (e.g, clothing, kitchen/bath reuse, plastic). If you would like to engage people in conversation related to the theme or just talk about zero waste and have an hour or two to hang out at the booth, please email us.
Discard Station Ambassador – Help festival guests decide in which container (recycling, compost or landfill) to toss their discards.
- July 4th* – We set up and manage 11 discard stations (recycling – compost – landfill) throughout the downtown area and continuously staff them from 7am-5pm. Volunteers select a station for a two-hour shift and stay there to make sure people throw their discards in the right spot. We need close to 50 volunteers. Please email us to help.
- National Night Out* – First Tuesday in August, 5-8pm, at Waterfront Park, one-hour shifts
* Canceled for 2020
Styrofoam Recycling Collection – Help snap Styrofoam one weekend in January and July** at Bay Hay and Feed.
** Moved to September 12 & 13 for 2020
Rotary Recycling Green Team – This is not under the Zero Waste purview, but many of the Rotary GT recycling volunteers are also Zero Waste volunteers. This event includes a six-day donation intake period, a prep day, Preview Night, and Sale Day, held sometime between the end of June and the first two weeks of July.* You choose your hours (8am-8pm) to push a shopping cart through the halls and around the grounds of Woodward Middle School checking on discard stations and finding treasures for the Lawn of Opportunity. Try it for a couple hours and you’ll be hooked! Email us to help.