For a great list of plastic-free zero waste gifts, check out Beyond Plastics’ suggestions. Below, two local entrepreneurs fill the bill.

For adults...

Do you or does anyone you know want to take the next step in getting rid of everyday plastic but doesn't know where to begin? Zero waste advocate Sandy Spears has done the work for you and created an all-in-one kitchen/toiletries/cleaning kit. Email Sandy for details.

Also, take a look at her blog post for great ideas on reducing trash.

The Scrappy Art Lab can't have in-person visits at the moment, so they're doing the next best thing: letting you take home the shop! Scrappy is offering low-waste, low-plastic art kits for all ages in reusable canning jars; mini kits for stocking stuffers; and custom kits for that someone special in your life. Give the gift of creativity this season!

And for readers, here are two books from Bainbridge Island authors available at Eagle Harbor Book Company...

Bainbridge Island Zero Waste has a Facebook page! Our social media maven and ZW steering committee member Susan Knell has taken on the admin duties. We look forward to lots of dynamic exchanges with laughs, useful ideas and timely information. Check us out, share posts, and contribute to the conversation.

Our next general Zero Waste meeting will be January 13, 5-6:30pm, via Zoom. We were heartened by the wonderful turnout last month and the new faces. Find out what we learned from the solid waste professional speakers in the minutes. Check the Zero Waste website or Facebook page in a week or so for announcement of the January guest presenter.

Our state waste advocacy group, Zero Waste Washington, is out with their latest newsletter. If you've ever bought or thought about buying milk in a returnable glass bottle -- available at T&C -- you'll enjoy the Zero Waste Milk article.

The next Styrofoam collection is scheduled for January 30 & 31. However, state Covid-gathering restrictions have been extended till January 4. We will make a final decision on whether to still hold the event at that time. Updates will be posted on the Zero Waste Styro webpage and on our Facebook page.

On November 10th, our city council approved the first-ever Bainbridge Island Climate Action Plan (CAP). This plan is a culmination of a three-year effort by the Climate Change Advisory Committee (CCAC) working with City staff, community stakeholders and the public. To ensure it won't sit on a shelf, the plan includes COBI hiring a Climate Mitigation/Adaptation Officer to coordinate activities among the various city offices.

The CAP contains over 170 actions and includes 18 immediate steps the CCAC believes are important to initiate over the next 12 months, one of which is to develop an ordinance to reduce single-use plastics. The entire plan can be found here. The waste chapter is on pages 76-82.

If you have questions about any aspect of the plan, the City and CCAC will be holding two virtual community planning meetings on January 13, 5:30–7pm, and January 23, 10-11:30 am. 

Earlier this week there was a big announcement that 550 organizations, including Sustainable Bainbridge, had signed onto a Presidential Plastics Action Plan that outlines 8 executive actions future President Biden can take to deal with the plastics crisis without any congressional approval required. If you would like to support the Plan and share any concerns, here is the petition to sign. Details of the 8 key steps are here.

Earlier this fall, two Zero Waste members audited a six-week plastics environmental policy course, Beyond Plastic Pollution, through Bennington College. It was taught by Judith Enck (pictured in the upper left of a screenshot of part of the class), a regional Environmental Protection Agency administrator in the Obama administration. Diane Landry loved it for the networking opportunities. Barbara Ochota appreciated the depth and breadth of information and tips for becoming a better advocate.

Judith is offering the class again from Feb. 17-March 30, 2021. If you'd like to learn about the plastics issues we face and what to do about them, go here to enroll.

Judith was interviewed this week on NPR's Here and Now about the Plastics Action Plan mentioned in the article above.

Islander V Calvez is always looking for ways to live in a mutually beneficial way with nature, whether it's reusing shower water by running a hose from the second-story bathroom down to his outdoor garden or promoting neighborhood composting with Green Mountain Technologies' Earth Cube composter.

Even though it's been 17 years since he received the ABC Environmentalist of the Year award, V continues to innovate. A few years he ago decided to start using containers stuffed with unrecyclable plastic scraps as wall insulation for various projects. Community members helped out by filling containers per V's instructions. So far he's keeping his cohousing's composter cooking at a high temperature with "eco-brick" cartons stuffed in the walls, shown circled in the picture above. V also completed a storage shed insulated in entirely the same way.

Now he is starting a new project and needs more bricks! If you would like to find out how to make them -- and give purpose to unrecyclable plastic -- click the button below.

An Oregon State University honors undergraduate is looking for participants 18 and older to take a brief online survey. The student is conducting a study to examine which modes of science messaging are most effective in communicating the problem of marine plastic pollution.

Click here to participate. It takes only 10-15 minutes. Act by December 14.

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