Want to be part of the biggest landfill diversion event on the island? Then volunteer with our Rotary Auction Green Team. Here's how:



1. Go to the Rotary volunteer page.
2. Click the box for new or returning volunteers. Everyone must sign this 2026 waiver. Remember to click submit at the bottom after filling in.
3. Then go to "Schedule" and follow the instructions for filtering to "Green Team" volunteer shifts.
4. Decide which division* of the Green Team and shifts you prefer:

• Lawn of Opportunity (LOO)
• Recycle Team
• Green Team Desk
• Cardboard and Box Team
• Food Waste Team (during mealtime periods)



Descriptions of each division are on the Green Team page.

*Editor's note: If you haven't signed up yet and like to move, we are in particular need of Recycling Rovers on July 5th-8th, 8-11am and 5-8pm. We would love help with those shifts, especially the morning one. Also, any shifts on July 9 & 10.

Donating to the Rotary Auction & Rummage Sale


July 5-8, 8am-7pm @ Woodward Middle School

Rotary is very grateful for your donations. They made a little over $1 million from last year's event, but more than a quarter of the gross went to expenses to put on the event. However hard the Green Team works, especially in diverting usable but non-sellable items or sale leftovers, there is still a substantial trash bill.

Please help Rotary keep that trash bill down by not donating what is on the "What We Don't Accept" list.

New to the list this year:

• Large appliances (dishwashers, washer/dryers, refrigerators, ovens, freezers)
• Trampolines over 6 feet
  Couches were added last year.

If you do have a large appliance or a couch, please consider gifting it on one of the free sites before landfilling.

But if it's ready for the dump, then does Bainbridge Disposal have an offer for you! When you come to Woodward to drop off donations, ask the car greeters for a limited-time discount coupon to use when disposing of your large appliance and/or couch at the Banbridge Disposal Transfer Station. And like last year, Bainbridge Disposal will donate the disposal fee to Rotary.

Our tableware lending library is a busy, busy place. So busy, in fact, that we are closed to new reservations that occur during the June 1-August 31 time period. (You can still currently reserve for events that take place after August 31.)

Our three-person volunteer librarian team cannot commit to any more than the 55 events already scheduled for this summer. (If you might be interested in becoming a librarian, please contact Jane Martin.)

On another note, to make our lives a little easier, we now have a new procedure for taking reservations: Please fill out this form, and a librarian will then contact you about your event.

If you have never heard of the Zero Waste Tableware Lending Library, you can read about it here, and view inventory here. We lend locally to weddings, memorials, fundraisers, sports banquets, in-home gatherings, and more.

Zero Waste will not be taking part in waste management at the July 4th festival this year, so all food and compostable food service ware will go to the landfill.

If you would like to help with an aspect of waste diversion at the Grand Old Fourth, the Chamber of Commerce is looking for support with the water refill stations. Please contact them to volunteer.

Thank you to the ZW readers who volunteered for Pride Fest on Saturday. What beautiful weather and a joyous turnout!

Zero Waste next volunteers at the city's National Night Out event on Tuesday, August 4, 4-7pm.

Have you ever given clothes to Goodwill, the Northwest Center's big blue dropbox (see photo), or a thrift store, which may eventually donate overstock to Goodwill?

If you answered yes, then "The Role of Thrift Stores" webinar on Tuesday, July 7, may be for you! It will explore the journey of donated textiles, from collection and processing to reuse and recycling.

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.

Newsletter editor: Diane Landry, Zero Waste BI (Volunteer) Director

Back issues are available here.

Zero Waste BI is an all-volunteer program of Sustainable Bainbridge.

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