Wednesday, November 29, 5-6:30pm

Virtual meeting

Find out what BI Zero Waste has been up to all year. Brief reports will come from project leads and grant recipients from 5-5:30.

Our main presenter will be Heather Trim, executive director of Zero Waste Washington, from 5:30-6:30. This Seattle-based nonprofit's goals are to drive policy change and work on programmatic initiatives for a healthy and waste-free world.

Heather will speak about the upcoming 2024 Washington state legislative proposals for systemic change that reduce waste, greenhouse gas emissions, natural resource extraction, plastic pollution and toxic chemicals in our environment. She will take questions after her presentation.

2024 WA Legislation Preview

Following up on last year's introduction of the WRAP Act, there will be another go at enacting extended producer responsibility (EPR) legislation for both plastic and paper packaging.

For a concise background look at why EPR legislation is important, read this excellent summary by Pam Clough of Environment Washington.

Bottle bills are one of the best examples of effective EPR. (Fun fact: One of the founders of Sustainable Bainbridge was crucial to getting the first bottle bill passed in the nation in Oregon in 1971.)

Ten states currently have container deposit legislation. Not coincidentally, those states average above a 60% beverage container recycling rate, compared to 24% for non-deposit states. Washington is around 40%.

Sustainability goals in the soda industry call for producing bottles with more recycled content, and bottle bills would increase the needed supply of post-consumer material.

But even better than recycling is container reuse, as there is less resource extraction and ecosystem degradation, energy and water use, and pollution.

If you're of a certain generation, you may remember the days of taking glass bottles back to the grocery store for a deposit return. Those bottles were washed and reused at least thirty times and then able to be fully recycled into new glass bottles for the reuse process to resume.

Now a new film is out detailing when the shift from reusable to single-use soda bottles came about. Watch the 12-minute How Coke Killed the Refillable Bottle. Then, if you want to go more in-depth by reading the featured commentator's book, Citizen Coke, write to Diane Landry to borrow it.

A September 2023 report from The Story of Stuff Project cites the Coca-Cola Company as the largest consumer-facing seller of plastics in the world, producing 134 billion (23%) of the world's PET plastic bottles. In 2022, they announced their intent to sell a quarter of those beverages globally in refillable containers, but there was no signal of any intent to bring reusable bottles back to the United States, its headquarters and flagship market.

To urge Coca-Cola to include the U.S. market in their refillable goal and pledge support for a national bottle bill, sign this petition.

Ace Hardware owner Steve Mikami is once again allowing residents to drop off broken light strings at the Bainbridge store from now until Martin Luther King Day.

However, if the lights can be reused, please leave them with the Goodwill truck people in the Ace parking lot.

Kingston local Mark Fladgard has supported these collection efforts for years by making sure the metal in the cords gets recycled.

Marge Williams Center



Zero Waste Bin

Located outside the building at

221 Winslow Way West

Added - Razors

Now you can bring used disposable razors, razor blades, and their plastic blister packaging.

Deleted-Oral Care

The company that had sponsored this Terracycle program has discontinued its funding. The last day to drop off toothpaste tubes, toothbrushes and/or floss containers is December 1.

For a complete list of what is accepted in the Zero Waste bin, go here.

Note - Beauty Packaging

Beauty product collection was discontinued a while ago at the Marge, but a ZW newsletter reader recently pointed out that the Seattle Sephora locations accept all sorts of beauty and wellness items, including toothpaste tubes and dental floss containers.

Join ReFashion Bainbridge program leader Naomi Spinak for a sit-down conversation with Robin Little Wing Sigo at the Bainbridge Cinemas on Monday, December 4, 6-7:30pm. They will discuss the power and story of clothing and textiles -- what they mean, and why we should care about and care for our fabrics.

According to the European Parliament, textile production is estimated to be responsible for about 20% of global water pollution from dyeing and finishing products, while laundering synthetic clothes accounts for 35% of primary microplastics released into the environment.

Take this short and fun survey to calculate your closet's climate change impact. Then go to the Zero Waste Reuse/Recycle Guide clothing page to see how to rethink your clothes buying and care habits.

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.