We are now in the home stretch of Waste Management’s “Think Green Reuse and Recycling Challenge” which has viciously pitted neighborhood against neighborhood in an attempt to get us all to reduce our “waste” lines. As of late January, Wallingford, as part of the “Friday North” group along with part of Greenlake, was ranked 8th out of 10 in the city in terms of outright waste reduction. Yikes! We are not doing so well at reducing our waste in this part of the hood.
However, thanks to the hard work of recycling champion and Wallywriter Barb Burrill, Wallingford is tied for first in the outreach category. To engage our neighborhood in increased recycling awareness, Barb has taken groups of John Stanford International School students door-to-door, crafted holiday decorations for the trees on 45th from recycled materials, and inspired blog readers to complete the sentence “I love recycling because…” Right now we’re in a 3-way tie, so if Barb leads us to victory, we will receive a third of the $10,000 outreach prize for the Wallingford Community Council.
Want to help Wallingford reduce its waste line? One easy way to divert waste from the landfill is by composting (aka nutrient recycling) – either in your yard waste bin or in a backyard bin.
I volunteer at my son’s school, APP@Lincoln, facilitating the lunchroom composting and recycling. Trust me, I see A LOT of food waste! The students on our Green Team are really sensitive to this food waste. They can’t understand why perfectly good food gets put into the compost, which in their minds should be reserved for apple cores, orange peels, and sloppy joe days.
At our science fair last week, these students decided to use their project about the science of compost to educate families about reducing food waste. They put together this lovely flier. If you take it to heart, perhaps we can win that Waste Management challenge after all. Come on Friday North!
So in the schools it goes back to the adult servers.. sometimes they give large portions to small children. The tacos and burritos come in only one size so a 5 yr old gets same size as a 11 yr old.
re neighborhood challenge.. I know that people in my apartment building mostly donot care.. and management doesnt. how about outreach to owners and managers of apt buildings?
The latest SPU mailer actually has special info for apartments in it! And an offer! You can sign up to be a “Friend of ReCycling” (aka FORC) to help your apartment building come into better compliance with the law around composting. After you attend a training, you can get free kitchen compost containers for your building. FORCs also get a $100 credit toward their SPU bill. There’s more info both about apartment recycling and composting and the FORC program here: http://www.seattle.gov/util/MyServices/FoodYard/BldgOwnersManagers_FoodYard/index.htm
The Waste Management Think Green Neighborhood Challenge is only for residents who have garbage carts, not dumpsters, so apartments would not typically be eligible for the contest. I agree with Kimberly that the Friend of Recycling program is the way to go to encourage apartment dwellers to be more recycling-savvy.
well, it has to go to managers and owners.
A couple years ago i called to be a Friend.. and was transferred around on phone so much I gave up. besides the owners would not like it.. they ar eminimalist care owners, no energy, no repair, little consciousness.
I would prefer that apartment owners be fined for extreme lack of compliance.