Pierce County is partnering with the Washington Department of Ecology this June for the Secure Your Load campaign. Did you know that unsecured loads cause over 300 crashes in Washington every year and cause up to 40% of roadside litter?

County staff will be talking with motorists at transfer stations to educate them on why it is important to secure their loads and how to properly do it. They will also provide materials about securing loads in the future. This campaign will continue throughout the year as we build awareness on the importance of securing loads for safety and litter prevention. Lean more at Secure Your Load - Washington State Department of Ecology.

Unveiling the New Land Conservation StoryMap

The Office of Resilience and Climate Action is excited to unveil The Case for Conserving Land in Pierce County StoryMap! This new tool highlights land types, histories, success stories, and next steps for land conservation in Pierce County.

A proposed Land Conservation Plan is set to go to the Pierce County Council’s Community Development and Environment Committee meeting on June 16. 

The number inside a recycling symbol on plastic products is called a resin identification code (RIC). It’s a common misconception that the RIC tells whether something is recyclable or not, but it only identifies the broad category of plastic resin that is used to make a product.

There are seven RICs, but knowing if a certain plastic is recyclable is much more complicated due to the wide variety of additives in plastics. For example, a plastic yogurt tub and a single-use plastic cup can be made from the same broad category and have the same “number” on the bottom but have completely different chemical recipes so that the yogurt tub is recyclable and the single-use plastic cup is not.

In Pierce County we recycle plastics based on shape (bottles, jugs, tubs, and buckets), not number. That is because the size and shape of a container is what allows that item to be easily sorted at a recycling facility. If it’s plastic but it’s not in the shape of a bottle, jug, tub or bucket, we don’t want it in your curbside recycling bin in Pierce County.

Want to learn more? Check out our Detailed Curbside Recycling List.

Do you have a recycling question? Send it to us at PCRECYCLE@PierceCountyWa.gov. We’ll send you a direct response and your question may appear in a future newsletter!

Youth Ride Free: Travel Independence this Summer

Explore With Us This Summer!

Learn with us in June as we launch our Summer in the Wild series!

View the full schedule and register at PierceCountyWa.gov/EarthMattersSeries.

The Art of Noticing

6-7:30 p.m. June 11

Meridian Habitat Park in South Hill

A Habitat Walk Through Flett Creek

6-7:30 p.m. June 25

Flett Creek in Lakewood

Edible Gardens: Preserving the Harvest Workshop

Enjoy your summer abundance throughout the year! Learn the basics of freezing, dehydrating and canning at our June Edible Gardens Workshop.

The class runs from 10 a.m. to noon June 21 at WSU Puyallup and via Zoom.

Hybrid and in-person workshops are offered through October. View the schedule and register.

June Youth Programming

Free Teacher Workshop on 'The Art of Outdoor Learning'

Get inspired with our "The Art of Outdoor Learning: Community and Nature as Your Classroom" workshop for teachers! In this free six-hour professional development workshop, teachers will learn how to find and use a variety of outdoor learning landscapes to bring their curriculum to life.

• Two dates are available: June 24 (Gig Harbor) and June 26 (Puyallup)
• Read the workshop announcement
• Register

Read with us:

• Community, Conversation, Music: How People Are Tackling Eco-Anxiety Around the World, The World
• How Washington State Won Parking Reform, Sightline Institute
• The Misleading Accounting Behind Your ‘Recycled’ Plastic, Grist
• The Staggering Ecological Impacts of Computation and the Cloud, The MIT Press Reader
• Washington Gov. Ferguson Signs Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility Law, Waste Dive
• Is Public Transit Really Safer than Driving?, Scientific American
• Complex urban streets encourage safer driving, State Smart Transportation Initiative (University of Wisconsin - Madison)

Watch with us:

• How To Fix Public Transit in The U.S., CNBC
• Development near Phoenix tests whether car-free living is sustainable in sprawling cities, PBS
• Why did Kids Stop Walking to School?, About Here and TransLink (Vancouver, British Columbia)
• Active Transportation Fallacies, HUB Cycling (Vancouver, British Columbia)

Listen with us:

• Bayo Akomolafe on the Nature of Possibility in Uncertain Times, Atmos
• The Old Growth Table: Our Food is Our Medicine, All My Relations 

Do with us:

• Shred events: Upcoming paper shredding events:
• ‌Anderson Island: June 7, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• Roy: June 21, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• University Place: June 28, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• GoodRoots Market in Buckley offers a Container Gardening Class from WSU Master Gardeners every 1st and 3rd Thursday, 2 to 3 p.m.
• Bilingual Mindfulness Walk at Snake Lake on June 7, 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. in Tacoma
• Lei Making Workshop on June 7, 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Bonney Lake
• Triftapalooza, a sustainable thrifting market dedicated to promoting a circular economy and secondhand shopping. June 7-8 at the Washington State Fair Events Center in Puyallup.
• Recycle Fashion Show on June 10, 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. in Gig Harbor
• Wildfire, Smoke, & You on June 11, 5 to 6 p.m. in Eatonville
• SpaceWorks Tacoma Art Walk hosted by Downtown On the Go on June 18, 6 to 7 p.m.
• ‌Visit our Solid Waste staff at the Gig Harbor Waterfront Farmers Market to get your recycling and food/yard waste collection questions answered! June 26, 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Skansie Brothers Park.
• All Hazards – Personal Preparedness Presentation on June 26, 4 to 5 p.m. in Parkland/Spanaway
• Dig Into Composting Critters with Environmental Education Program at Pierce County Library, Summer Reading Program for ages K-5:
• June 25, 2 to 3 p.m. at the University Place Library
• June 26, 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Lakewood Library
• June 26, 2 to 3 p.m. at the DuPont Library

Civic Engagement Opportunities:

• Pierce County Sea Level Rise Study
• Sustainability 2030 Plan Public Comment Period Sustainability 2030 Plan Update
• June in-person dates:
• June 16, 2 to 6 p.m. at the South Hill Library
• June 17, 2 to 6 p.m. at the Key Center Library
• June 24, 2:30 to 6 p.m. at the Parkland/Spanaway Library
• June 30, 2 to 6 p.m. at the Lakewood Library 

We welcome your feedback on this newsletter! Share your thoughts via email HERE.