Waste reduction is the natural starting point for having less to throw away. In that spirit, beginning on January 1, Bainbridge Island's new ordinance takes effect that exchanges automatic provision of food and drink accessories for a request/ confirmation model.

In practical terms, this means that all food and drink retailers -- including food trucks and caterers -- must ask the customer or the customer must request utensils, straw/stirrers, single-use condiment packages and lids for cold beverages (the latter item not applicable to take-out, drive-thru or delivery orders). For online ordering, the local platform Islandbite is adding a section to its website to enable customer opt-in.

Operating in this way, you the customer are allowed to make the decision on what you want, the businesses will save a little money, and the city makes a start on one of its Climate Action Plan goals.

Detailed here are more changes that will be coming in January 1, 2023, as specified in the Single-use Foodware and Waste Reduction ordinance passed last month by the Bainbridge city council.

The city has formed a Business Ambassador Program, coordinated by the Chamber of Commerce, that has already reached out to practically all affected retailers about the accessories part of the ordinance.

[Side note: We want to make sure to inform all food trucks and caterers. If you know of any that serve Bainbridge Island besides Grub Hut, Sauced, Barbacoa, Argensal, Battle Point BBQ, and Brick Curry Lane, please let us know who they are!]

COBI will continue supporting the ambassador program through next year and will work to assist businesses by educating visitors and residents about the new practices and collaborating with vendors on compostable service ware sourcing.

Bainbridge Island is one of the American cities on the forefront of promoting compostable service ware. In fact, the National Restaurant Association's survey of 350 chefs ranks it number one on consumers' minds when dining out in 2022. And with a Guardian article citing that "more than 70% of Americans report ordering takeout or delivery one to three times a week, resulting in hundreds of billions of single-use products," switching from nonrecyclable plastic to compostable service ware (and could a reusable take-out container system be a logical next step?) is the way to go.

By now you would have expected to hear when our next collection for Styrofoam is taking place. Zero Waste plays a big part in bringing this opportunity to you by organizing the collection and securing volunteers (who are many of you!). But we are just one part of the recycling system. Other elements are having a host site, a backhauler (meaning transport in a vehicle already making a trip to the recycling destination), and a processor who densifies the material into solid blocks. Currently, all three of those components are unavailable to us, so the collection is on hold for now.

However, there are options still open to you:

Speaking of Ridwell, if you happen to know of an organization that could use a specific donation category (e.g., household goods, ice packs, sporting goods), you can suggest it to Ridwell here and they will consider adding it as a special collectible.

Steve and Becky Mikami, owners of Bainbridge Ace Hardware, are teaming up for the fifth year in a row with Mark Fladgard, a Kingston metal recycler and stalwart Rotary Auction Green Team partner, to allow area residents to drop off their broken light strings at the store. Mark will make sure the copper in the wires gets recycled.

Ace will accept light strings through Martin Luther King Day, January 17. If your strings still function, drop them off at the Goodwill truck in the Ace parking lot, instead.

The Center for Biological Diversity has some great suggestions for giving more meaningful, less stuff-based gifts. Check out their Simplify the Holidays gift guide here.

Clean out your jewelry case and give unused pieces to the Women's Jewelry Project, an initiative of the Seattle Metals Guild. Through their volunteers' efforts in cleaning and fixing donated items, they support women's shelters and the Dress for Success program. More details are in this Zero Waste news post.

The Guild is just now getting ready to distribute jewelry for the holidays. Here are the Bainbridge drop-off locations for donations:

Add vases to the list of supply chain problems. Both Flowering Around and Town & Country's floral department are finding them hard to come by. If you have extra clear glass vases in good condition, both businesses will happily take them.

Brita filters, pitchers, dispensers, bottles, faucet systems, and associated packaging can now be dropped off in addition to five other "special recyclable" types. Please see this Zero Waste news post about everything that can go in the Marge bin.

With elections over, the signs may be down, but many were saved from their usual past fate of being thrown in the trash and buried in a landfill. Zero Waste's Susan Knell spearheaded the collection of these campaign signs (and will continue taking other plastic corrugated signs in the drop-off bin outside the Marge Williams Center). Many of the candidates -- city council, school board and fire commission -- participated by dropping them off at her house. About 200 signs are now set to be reused as insulation in a compost construction project by islander V Calvez. The metal post inserts are being stored by Herb Hethcote and are available for borrowing.

The latest Zero Waste Washington newsletter is hot off the press. Find out about the environmental bills being teed up for the 2022 state legislative session, the ZWW holiday party and ways to celebrate less wastefully, area waste reduction efforts, and this:

Back issues are available here.

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