March 13, 2019
Call soon if you want to
support the following bills...
This year's state legislative session is moving quickly. Nora Nickum, our guest speaker at Saturday's Zero Waste meeting, highlighted the zero waste-oriented bills below that the Seattle Aquarium, for whom she is the new Ocean Policy Manager, has been supporting. They have all passed the Senate and are now being considered in the House.

SB 5323 - Reusable Bag Bill
SB 5397 - Plastic Packaging Stewardship
SB 5077 - Plastic Straws on Request

Call 1-800-562-6000 between 8am-7pm this week or next, and you will talk to a live person who will convey your message to your representatives.

Nora advises stating the bill numbers and asking your representatives (for Bainbridge: Sen. Rolfes, Rep. Appleton and Rep. Hansen) to vote YES, with just a few words about why you think it is important to reduce plastic waste.

For details on all the waste-centric bills, and to see which bill needs a phone call by 5pm on Wednesday, March 13, go to Zero Waste Washington's just-out quarterly newsletter . In it, you will also find out how to get Amazon purchases shipped with less packaging and where to find plastic-free shops.
This is your recycling center:
This is your recycling center on plastic bags:
Our materials recovery facility, or MRF ("murf"), has to completely shut down twice a day for 30-40 minutes at a time to cut plastic bags off these rollers, or they cannot properly perform their function of separating paper from the rest of the recyclables.
Even though Bainbridge Island generates far fewer plastic grocery bags due to the local bag ban (and possibly soon, a state ban), some people still put their recyclables in plastic drawstring bags and toss them into their recycling toter. That's a big no-no! Please help spread the word: Recyclables go in loose or in paper bags only!
Update on Styrofoam Peanuts
The UPS Stores of Washington are phasing out the use of Styrofoam chips as packing material. They will no longer accept them from the public.
(They will still accept clean bubble wrap and air pillows.)

Kitsap County takes Styro peanuts at their Styrofoam Roundups. The next one is on July 27 at the fairgrounds. Zero Waste is considering accepting them at our July collection at Bay Hay and Feed (date tbd).
You may sometimes receive purchases packed in the peanuts above; they are the compostable type. Being made from cornstarch, you can get rid of them by dissolving them in water outside or in your sink. As a former preschool teacher, I can tell you that children enjoy "sculpting" with them. Just moisten and stick together!
CHANGE to V Calvez's Bottle Bricking Project
V is switching gears from collecting milk cartons stuffed with clean plastic to taking clear plastic bottles crammed with clean plastic in order to create a compost vessel/art sculpture. Read details of the project update on this ZW web page .
A Weekend Plus a Day...
...is all it took to accumulate this much plastic film. Keep up the good work, Sakai students - and the Bainbridge community - in collecting plastic film for the Trex Recycling Challenge. Go to this ZW web page for details on what plastic film you can recycle and where.