Sustainable Bainbridge and many other community organizations (see the logos on the poster above) kick off spring with April Earth Month, a time to highlight activities on our Earth Month page that people of all ages can take part in to show the earth some love.

Win an Eagle Harbor Books Gift Card!

Play Earth Month Bingo by doing some of the above activities in April, and you may find yourself not only acquiring a new, Earth-friendly habit, but also an Eagle Harbor Books gift card!

Download the bingo card here. If you score a bingo (four activities this month going horizontally, vertically, diagonally, or in the four corners), mark the activities you accomplished and take a photo of the card. Then send to BI Zero Waste, and you will be entered into a drawing for the gift card!

You might not see it from the car, but it's there all along the roadside -- butts, wrappers, cans, and more. Join in the Islandwide Litter Cleanup this month to put that trash where it belongs.

You decide when to do the picking up. Then go to this page to see how you can borrow grabbers and get free trash disposal bags. (We even have a 10' extendable grabber.)

Can you organize a school, youth, service or church group to tackle a long stretch of road, park or trail? BI Zero Waste can lend out up to 20 grabbers for such an event.

Thank you to Bainbridge Disposal and Kitsap Solid Waste for assisting BI Zero Waste in offering you these supplies.

If you missed the March Fix-it Fair, don't despair. Sustainable Bainbridge and BARN will hold one or two more later this year.

In the meantime, we are developing a list of volunteer fixers and event helpers, because without the skills of our talented community, we couldn't hold such events. If you can be a fixer or event helper, please email Heather Dowey.

Kitsap Solid Waste has fix-it events set for once a month, June-October, throughout the county. That schedule is here.

Even if you can't act, you can still contribute to the stage production of SpongeBob the Musical at Bainbridge Performing Arts. Costume designer Dawn Janow is creatively reusing materials for the show and is looking for the following:

• Hula hoops (bent okay)
• Pool noodles (missing foam okay)
• Water rafts, water wings, beach floaty things (old/broken okay)

Do you see a theme? Messed-up (but not filthy) is okay. Please drop off donations by Friday, April 4, at BPA during business hours or contact Dawn before then.

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Kathy McGowan & sons' April Flashdrive collection is books. Children and adult books are okay, but NO encyclopedias or magazines - just books. The books will be sent to Spread the Word Nevada, which partners with schools that have a 97% average participation rate in the free/reduced lunch program. The books are given to the students to build their own home libraries. 

Flashdrive picks up from your home, so get on their email list to be notified of the designated date.

Flashdrive is an entirely volunteer effort. If possible, they would love it if people would put their books into shipping boxes and even provide extra book-sized boxes if you have any on hand. If you have extra packaging tape to donate, they'd appreciate that, too.

There's an ongoing Zero Waste drop-off during weekday hours, 9am-4pm, at the BI Senior/Community Center for small and medium-sized scrap metal (max 6'L or 3'W). But if you're not able to stop by on the weekday, then take advantage of the above special one-day dropoff at the front entrance of the BISCC on Saturday, April 12. More info is here.

Plus, you can stop by the Zero Waste booth at the BI Farmers' Market the first Saturday of each month (excepting July) to drop off your stash.

Metal sorting continues the second and fourth Saturdays of each month at the BISCC (side door entrance), 11am-noon, but it usually finishes earlier. The latest six-week scrapyard haul was 160# shred (steel) and 64# aluminum, translating into a $35 contribution to the BISCC.

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Kitsap Solid Waste is holding its annual Styrofoam recycling collection on Saturday, April 19, 10am-3pm, at the Kitsap Fairgrounds. Styro should be clean and no stickers. Go here for details. If you'd like to help at the event, fill out this form.

There is no formal collection on Bainbridge to haul a load. We encourage you to let your neighbors know if you are going down and offer to take any Styro they may have.

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Target has yet to announce the exact timeframe in April for collection of all types of car seats and bases, including expired or damaged models. Most probably it will be Apri 13-26. Check back here for updates.

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Shred events are the places to go if you want your shredded paper to turn back into paper (true circularity). It cannot go in curbside or transfer station recycling because the recycling sorting facilities can't effectively separate shredded paper from bottles and cans. The beauty of a shred event is that only paper is collected, so the material can go straight to a pulp mill.

The Kiwanis are holding their annual ShredFest on Saturday, April 26, 9am-4pm, at 208 High School Rd NE (formerly Columbia Bank). It's a free event, but donations are gratefully accepted for the Kiwanis' children-centric causes. There is no paper limit. The company servicing the event is Lemay Mobile Shredding.

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Also, this month only, Bay Hay is collecting any and all socks. They must be clean. It doesn't matter if it's a single or a pair, but keep them all separate - no bagging, clipping, banding or rolling together. If you have a good pair, put in the blue clothing collection bin in the Jiffy Mart parking lot across the street.

Bay Hay partners with Smartwool's Second Cut Project, which sends the socks to Material Return in North Carolina to be repurposed into new goods.

LightRecycle is an extended producer responsiblity program passed by the Washington state legislature fifteen years ago to collect and recycle mercury-containing lights (identified by the element symbol "Hg"). Ace Hardware volunteers their store as a drop-off point for this program. Recently, the limits for how many can be brought in daily has increased.

Washington State residents and businesses can now recycle per day, for free

• Unlimited screw-base compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs)
• Up to 15 pin-based or linear fluorescent lamps
• Up to 2 high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps

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With planting season upon us, save up your plant tags and take to Bay Hay and Feed. They recycle them through Terracycle.

Go to the ZW Reuse/Recycle Guide to see where to take back plant pots.

You have three chances this month to talk in person with our BI Zero Waste brain trust. :)

• April 5 - BI Farmers Market, Saturday, 10am-2pm
• April 10 - COBI Zero Waste Open House, Thursday, 5-7pm
• April 26 - Parks' Earth Expo, Saturday, 10am-2pm

Please email BIZW if you have questions or would like to spend time behind the booth to get better acquainted with our work. We are always looking to expand our core base of helpers!

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Learn about the garbage, recycling, hazardous waste, and waste prevention programs provided by the Kitsap County Solid Waste Division in this very visual story map.

It's all very interesting, including the section on funding. Since BI does not have a municipal solid waste division, we are fortunate to have special recycling events provided by the county.

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Many of the events from the early spring Zero Waste Washington newsletter are over by now, but if you know a farmer, direct them to the section on ways they can participate in three pilot projects that are designed to address farm waste, reduce landfill use, and save farmers money.

ZWW also has the latest skinny on the waste reduction bills making their way (or not) through the state legislature.

What a success ReFashion Bainbridge's March clothing swap was! 2300 pounds of clothing donated, only 50 of which were not suitable to set out (and went to Goodwill).

Over 200 people poured in the next day, with 85 eager beavers waiting for the doors to open. 80% of the items went home with happy customers. Fishline's Second Season Boutique in Poulsbo got the remainder of the adult clothing and Kidvantage in Bremerton received the leftover children's clothes.

There were also menders on site for anyone in need of a minor clothing repair.

See you in November for another chance at a wardrobe refresh!

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Kitsap Solid Waste, BARN and Sustainable Bainbridge teamed up on March 1 to hold a Fix-it Fair at BARN. 73 community members were helped, some more successfully than others. 52 items were repaired, 9 deemed end of life, and 15 still fixable but needing parts. Twenty volunteers, including fixers, helpers and organizers, powered this event.

Whenever you are looking for a destination for something not accepted in your curbside bin, be sure to visit the

 "Guide to Reusing and/or Recycing Locally" on our website. If you have an addition for it or see a correction needed, please contact me.