Congratulations to Jane Martin, one of the winners of this year's Kitsap Earth Day Awards. Jane, who is a Zero Waste steering committee member, was chosen for all of the wonderful community service she brings to Bainbridge Island and beyond.

Jane's notable contributions:

1) Founder and head librarian of the Zero Waste Lending Library - Last year there were 240 individual or organizational borrowers with more than 15,000 event attendees reusing 65,000 (!) items instead of buying single-use disposables or one-time use items. 

2) Signmaker extraordinaire - She is inventive in her reuse of materials to make just the right kind of sign for the occasion, be it a July 4th discard station, a Rotary dumpster, her church coffee hour or a farmers' market booth.

3) Seattle Women's Shelter Jewelry Project - As a jeweler, Jane has brought her expertise and empathy to this group that accepts jewelry donations. With her expert eye, she helps sort the bling into different categories that earn money for the shelter or provide the women residents with accessories.

4) Rotary Rummage Sale & Auction Green Team Green Desk lead - For 15 years, Jane has led the Green Desk, a central command hub for dissemination of reuse and recycling information during donation and sale days.



5) Jane also helps with ZW outreach at the farmers'

market, staffing discard stations at community events, and is a jewelry fixer at the county's fix-it fairs.

Congratulations, Jane!!!

Create less waste AND have a a very good chance of winning a $25 gift certificate when you take the pledge to bring in your reusable cup for a drink fill-up. The coffee places above -- some of which offer discounts when you bring in your clean cup -- as well as these shops throughout the state are participating in this Department of Ecology reuse campaign.

The Senior/Community Center saved a folding chair from having to be metal recycled by taking it into the welding shop at BARN to have the back reattached.

As part of its community service, BARN's welding, sheet metal, and machine shops offer free fix-it service to the public the second Saturday of each month, 10am-12:30pm.

Kitsap Solid Waste and the Kitsap Public Libraries are teaming up to offer free once-a-month fix-it repair events June through October. Go here for locations, dates and times.

Here is a list of types of items to bring:

• clothing
• small appliances
• lamps
• vacuums
• jewelry
• small electronics

For complete details and/or to be a fixer, go here.

BARN and Sustainable Bainbridge are planning a fall event and are also interested in finding fixers. Please email Heather Dowey if you have an interest.

 Shredded Paper

Friends of the Bainbridge Public Library are holding a shred event on Saturday, May 17, 10am-1pm, in the BPL parking lot. You may bring up to three grocery bags or bankers boxes per person.

The paper that is shredded will get recycled, since it goes directly to a paper pulping mill. We can't put shredded paper in our mixed recycling bin, because our sorting facility is not built to separate it out from the cans and bottles.

 Scrap Metal & Small Electronics

Kitsap Solid Waste is holding a free collection of scrap metal and small electronics on Saturday, May 24, 9am-1pm, at the Kitsap Fairgrounds in the parking lot behind the Pavilion. Find all the details here.

Tires

Kitsap Solid Waste received funding last month to hold a free two-day tire collection event. The tires may end up being shredded and repurposed for rubber surfaces, burned as fuel, or landfilled. Very few are retreaded and reused. Collections such as these are possible because of a $1 fee per tire at point of sale.

The event will be held on Monday, June 9, 2-6pm, and on Tuesday, June 10, 2-6pm, at the Kitsap County Fairground behind the Thunderbird Arena, 1275 Fairgrounds Rd. NW, Bremerton.

This collection is for residential customers, not businesses or organizations. There is a limit of 15 tires per household.

Types accepted:

• Tires from passenger vehicles, light trucks, motorcycles, lawn mowers or wheelbarrows
• Tires with or without rims 

Scroll down on this page for more details.

 Paint

The City of Bainbridge Island is hosting a free paint recycling event on Saturday, June 28, 9am-3pm, at its operations & maintenance facility at 7305 NE Hidden Cove Rd, in partnership with GreenSheen.

Accepted Materials:

• Urethanes
• Oil-based and Latex-based Paints
• Acrylic Paint
• Varnishes, Shellacs and Lacquers
• Primers
• Clear Coatings

Not Accepted:

• Spray Paints, Marine and Auto Paints
• Household Hazardous Waste
• Electronics
• Paint Thinner
• Driveway Sealers

For questions, please email GreenSheen. 

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Why are we able to recycle paint in Washington?

In 2019, our state passed extended producer responsibility legislation to make sure residents had a way to recycle their leftover paint. The program is funded through a fee put on all architectural paint greater than half a pint sold in Washington.

PaintCare is the nonprofit stewardship organization designated to facilitate collection. They in turn collaborate with GreenSheen, which produces quality, latex house paint in 18 colors (and costing up to 75% less than traditional paint) by recycling an impressive 95% of the paint.

The year-round drop-off site for your leftover paint on Bainbridge is Mallory Paint Store on Hildebrand. Refer to the above list for what is accepted. Other locations can be found here.

Below are PaintCare's stats for 2024:

Alert #1



The biggest reuse event in the Pacific Northwest, the Bainbridge Island Rotary Auction & Rummage Sale, is happening this year on July 12. Next month's newsletter will let you know how to help at this 2000-volunteer strong event.

In preparing to donate, you should know that two new items will no longer be accepted: sofas and bed pillows. Below are the explanation and disposal suggestions from Rotary.

The 2025 Rotary Auction will NOT be accepting any sofas, loveseats, or sleeper sofas. Several factors contributed to this decision—these items take up considerable space at the auction site, are heavy for our volunteers to move, difficult for buyers to transport, and expensive to dispose of if unsold. Bed pillows just don't sell and must be landfilled.

Rotary has been collaborating with the Green Team to help community members find alternative ways to rehome or dispose of sofas:

·      Habitat for Humanity offers weekly pick-ups on Bainbridge Island. You can go online at https://kitsaphabitat.org/store/schedule-a-pickup to schedule a pick-up. Please note sofas must be in useable condition (not broken) for Habitat to take them. In addition, they do not take Sofa Beds (unless the mattress is still wrapped). There is generally a 1-3 week wait for standard pickups, so plan early.

·      Donate Kitsap a local moving and resale business, offers sofa pickup service for a fee. They can be reached at 206-902-6092.

·      Local Facebook Groups offer another option to give away items:

o  “Buy Nothing Bainbridge” (organized by North, Central and South areas)

o  Bainbridge Freely Given

o  Free on Bainbridge

o  Free on the Rock

·      Bainbridge Disposal Transfer Station (on Vincent Road) accepts sofas for disposal. This is a good option if the sofa is in poor condition. From July 5 – July 11 they will offer a discounted $40 disposal fee (normally $60) and will generously donate the proceeds to the Rotary Club of Bainbridge Island.

We appreciate your understanding and support in making the 2025 Rotary Auction more efficient and sustainable.

 Alert #2

Razors and razor packaging are no longer being accepted in the Zero Waste bin at the Marge Williams Center. Terracycle, which had been running a free mailback collection program, ended it with no advance notice to participants. Zero Waste paid to send in what had already been dropped off.

Alert #3

The scrap metal dumpster at the Bainbridge Disposal Transfer Station has been relocated to where the wood waste dumpster once sat, so wood waste is currently not being accepted at the moment.

The 2025 legislative session has ended, but many waste-focused bills have yet to be signed by the governor. Zero Waste Washington describes them all here, along with their status.

Action!: Urge Governor Bob Ferguson this week to pass the Recycling Reform Act without vetoing any sections. Send a 1-2 sentence email here, and be sure to write the bill number, "SB5284," in the subject line. This bill improves Washington’s recycling system by making recycling accessible for all; lowering the cost to households; and reducing excess packaging, including plastic.

Zero Waste Washington's May newsletter offers insights from the 2025 legislative session, ecological laundry tips, and more.

Watch this 56-minute show from PBS, "Single-use Planet, " which explores efforts to reduce the growing deluge of disposable plastic. .

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.