A Reminder of
Two Great Events Coming Your Way!
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Find out from two Seattle Aquarium experts how plastic pollution is affecting Puget Sound and what we can do about it. Join our Zero Waste meeting on Wednesday, March 16, 7-8:30pm, at the Zoom link below. After a brief catch-up on ZW business, Nora Nickum and Dr Lyda Harris (find their bios here) will cover :
- Plastic pathways to the ocean and how it affects wildlife
- Findings from the Seattle Aquarium's microplastics research in Puget Sound
- Changes the Seattle Aquarium has made to reduce its use of plastics
- Policies that have already passed in Washington state
- Actions we can take to stem the production and quick disposal of single-use plastics and other packaging
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To hear a snippet from Nora and meet Eba, the orca scat-sniffing rescue pup who sails the Salish Sea, watch this 10 minute video from Chris Morgan, host of The Wild podcast. |
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The 18th annual conference on Sunday, March 27, 12:30-5pm, at IslandWood features three keynote speakers who will address what compels us to buy, why local fibersheds are important, and how textile recycling is advancing. The breakout sessions will give you practical experience on keeping a sustainable wardrobe and enlighten you on environmental issues surrounding textiles. Go here for details. |
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If you need extra inspiration to register for the conference, Naomi Spinak, who is heading up the show, will answer your questions about the event and touch on responsible clothes shopping at the BISCC's Something to Talk About series, zooming here at 11:30am on Friday, March 18. |
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Speaking of Scrappy Art Lab, drop off your metal bottle caps at their store at 123 Bjune Dr., #109. They will use them in a multitude of ways, including as wheels, bangles, jingles, tiny hats, mini plates, and jewelry, or for decorations on boats, castles, and marble runs.
To see the imaginative creations of happy Scrappies, check out the Lab's Facebook page. |
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If you don't want to store all your used, disposable masks but do want to keep them out of the landfill, Cedars Unitarian Universalist Church has a solution for you.
Cedars has purchased a box through Terracycle's recycling program in which disposable masks -- not cloth -- are being collected at their church office doorway at 284 Madrona Way NE #128 (last commercial building, farthest door down on the left).
Terracycle's site explains that the different materials in the masks are separated by using a variety of sorting methods and are then sent to third-party partners for processing, where...
- The metals are manually removed and sent for smelting into new bar stock and metal sheeting.
- The polypropylene-dominant mixture from the face mask is densified into a crumb-like raw material that is used in plastic lumber and composite decking applications.
- The elastane or rubber band portion is ground into a fine mesh regrind and mixed with recycled plastics as an additive to provide flexibility and malleability to products.
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Organics Diversion Bill in Washington State Passes! |
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HB 1799 is one of two important greenhouse gas reduction bills that made it through the state legislature this year and that now awaits Governor Inslee's signature. The bill supports a variety of interventions to reach the goal of reducing climate change-inducing organics in landfills 75% by 2030 compared to 2015 levels. Here are some highlights:
- It removes liability barriers for companies and organizations to donate excess food.
- It requires many local governments and businesses to plan for source-separated collection of organic materials. But why wait? Currently anyone on Bainbridge can choose to recycle yard and food waste by signing up with Bainbridge Disposal or visiting the transfer station.
- It opens up state grant funding for farms to spread more compost on their fields and use anaerobic digesters.
- It facilitates the siting of organic material management facilities in order to ensure that adequate capacity exists to process organic materials at the volumes necessary to achieve state organic material diversion goals.
- It encourages cities and counties to procure more compost and finished products created from their organic material wastes. (COBI already purchases from our local Tilz, whose processed yard waste consists primarily of material dropped off by Bainbridge residents, creating a perfect circular economy.)
- It creates a state Center for Sustainable Food Management to coordinate and improve statewide food waste reduction and diversion efforts.
- It makes Washington the first state to require compostable foodware to be color-marked with green or brown print in order to educate consumers and reduce plastic contamination in compost.
Kudos to Zero Waste Washington for helping to get this legislation passed. Incidentally, their executive director, Heather Trim, is heading up one of the break-out sessions at the Bainbridge Environmental Conference!
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Newsletter editor: Diane Landry, BI Zero Waste (Volunteer) Director
Back issues are available here.
BI Zero Waste is an all-volunteer program of Sustainable Bainbridge.
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