The biggest reuse event probably in all of the Pacific Northwest is fast approaching. You may think of the Rotary Auction and Rummage Sale as a humongous 6-hour yard sale, but it is actually a nine-day reuse extravaganza that requires 1500 volunteers!!!

Each department has its committed helpers year in and year out. We ask you to consider giving the Green Team a go. We work hard in the days leading up to and including sale day to make sure that as little as possible goes in the trash dumpster. Not only does that goal promote reuse and recycling, but each trash dumpster not filled is about $1500 kept as profit rather than being a drain on the Auction's hard-earned profits.

The Green Team has five subgroups that function from the first day of collection:

Descriptions of each are here.

Each work day runs from 8am-8pm, so having multiple volunteers for shifts throughout the daily 12-hour schedule is very important!

If you would like to ask questions about any department, come to Volunteer Recruitment night on Monday, June 5, 6-7:30, at Woodward Middle School. (Save your appetite and have supper there, too!) If your questions just pertain to the Green Team, please feel free to email Diane.

Because July 4th lands smack dab in the middle of Rotary donation week, the Rotary Green Team and July 4th discard station ambassadors will have their stamina truly tested. Please consider signing up for a 2-hour shift to be one of 40+ station ambassadors needed for the Grand Old Fourth festivities. (Sign-up will be in the next newsletter.)

The 7th annual ReFashion Show was a smashing success, breaking records in attendance, box office and number of entries. With a requirement that the clothes be wearable (sittable and walkable) in every category, the creations truly were practical enough to wear on suitable occasions.

Photos and artist statement of all outfits will be up soon on refashionbainbridge.org.

Until at least July 31, Zero Waste is collecting sneakers in good to fair condition as a fundraiser. The shoes will be sent to GotSneakers, which sells a small portion domestically to the thrift community and ships the majority to global wholesale partners in Latin America, the Caribbean and the Middle East.

Do you have plans to camp this summer but need some one-off gear? Maybe the BI Parks Department can help fill in the equipment gap with a rental from their Outdoor Gearbank. Here's what you can reserve:

Go here for complete details.

Beer carrier tops may say they are recyclable, but they are greenwashing you! Though the HDPE plastic is a valued type, mechanically it cannot be sorted out at the MRF ("murf," or materials recovery facility), the destination for our curbside and transfer station mixed recyclables; instead, it ends up in the landfill.

Luckily, Bainbridge Brewing attempts something even better than recycling: reusing! They will take back the particular colors pictured above -- lime green, pearl, orange and yellow -- that come with their brand, and only in 4-tops. Once returned, they simply wash them and put them back on new cans of their crafted beer. It's both an environmental and money-saving win!

Drop-off locations:

Scrappy Art Lab is operating in its new location at Wardwell Farm, and they will continue to take compilations of your different odds and ends to use in their creative art classes. Always remember to donate only clean items, and pack the same type in one container (e.g., exclusively corks in a small bag). Go here to see their wishlist.

V Calvez of Eco-brick fame has published some videos, along with co-creator Madison Crittenden, that demonstrate the correct way to stuff and tape up unrecyclable milk cartons with unrecyclable plastic.

Cartons may then be dropped off at 9255 Holly Farm Lane in the labeled bin. These cartons have served as wall insulation in projects such as compost bins and coolers.

At the recent Kitsap County Earth Day awards ceremony, longtime Zero Waste volunteers Molly McCabe and Clive Pardy were honored for their sustainably oriented business, A Kitchen That Works. This design-build firm (soon to transition to McCabe by Design) promotes reuse of dismantled materials and recycles as much as possible, both on the job site and at the office.

The two not only run an environmentally conscious business, they also find time outside their 60-hour weeks to volunteer. Molly has served as a Sustainable Bainbridge board member, she and Clive have volunteered at all the past Zero Waste Styrofoam recycling collections, and Molly has helped out the Chamber of Commerce and staffed discard stations for the Fourth of July for over ten years. In addition, A Kitchen That Works has been a prize sponsor of the ReFashion Show for many years.

Another business in our community focusing on sustainability is Ecological Market. Its home use and personal care products are selected for their environmental soundness, whether that means eliminating plastic packaging, single-use or toxic materials.

The owners, Kate Sunderland and Sam Spillane, moved here late last year from Colorado and soon thereafter became involved with Sustainable Bainbridge. For the April Earth Month Litter Clean-up, they filled 22 bags with nearly 600 pounds of trash! Kate has also joined the Farmers Market Green Team, and Ecological Market was a sponsor of the ReFashion Show.

We reported in the last newsletter on the initiative taken by the third grade Branches class at Blakely Elementary School to investigate plastic pollution and single-use plastics in their lunchroom. After a presentation to the district's Food Services Supervisor, Elaine Krogfoss, Ms. Krogfoss made immediate changes by replacing plastic-encased single-serve applesauce, yogurt, cheese and cereal with bulk self-serve at the salad bar.

A second elementary school has now gone no-plastic for school-purchased lunches. The switch was made at Wilkes, while Ordway will transition in the fall.

The photo above is an art installation created by all of Blakely school that uses their old cafeteria single-use plastic to build a seascape, representing the overwhelming presence of plastic in the oceans and in aquatic life. To see an 8-minute presentation by the 3rd grade students to the Bainbridge Island school board to explain their project, go here starting at 21:22.

The Washington state legislature's 2023 session ended in April. Although a major bill to create a better recycling system (WRAP Act) did not pass, a new Extended Producer Responsibility law focusing on batteries made it through, as well as a plastics reduction act. Eleven states now have battery EPR legislation. Ours exceeds the others by expanding the type collected to include e-mobility device batteries. It also requires the study of how to manage batteries that are embedded in products. 

To read more on the bills that Governor Inslee signed, as well as to see those that did not go forward (but may next year), go to Zero Waste Washington's legislative summary page.

Please visit us at our monthly farmers market booth on Saturday, June 4, 10am-2pm. A beautiful table setting to show off the Zero Waste lending library will be on display, along with many of our volunteer librarians.

As usual, bring any small (hand-held) bits of scrap metal you have been accumulating.

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