Tuesday, August 25, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., Eastsound Fire Station
— from the Orcas Recycling Services/The Exchange newsletter (reprinted from Aug. 18)–
The roadwork begins at the Orcas Transfer Station. The “new” Exchange is the brown building at the top (north) of this map
Save the date! The team at ORS/The Exchange wants to update you, in person, on what we’ve been up to! Please join staff and the board of directors on Tuesday, August 25th at The Eastsound Fire Station, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. We will discuss the progress and timeline for the road construction project, as well as the advancements and challenges of designing a new Exchange reuse facility.
Come by to see drawings, discuss operational issues, and more. We will be collecting contact info from folks who want to volunteer and/or work at The Exchange. We will need staff, but we will need even more volunteers to help with everything from sorting items to helping with fundraising campaigns. So come on by! If you can’t make it, sign up to help here.
Island Excavating broke ground last week (week of August 10)! Thus begins the ‘clearing and grading’ phase of the project, that will create a new, safer traffic pattern for the ORS transfer station, as required by our contract with the County. It also upgrades utilities and, importantly, provides a big flat building space for a new Exchange reuse facility!
Many have noticed and commented on recent tree removal—we assure you we love trees as much as you do, but the trees need to go to make way for the traffic improvements. We will re-plant the site beautifully when construction is done—promise! In fact, several of the island’s best landscapers have already volunteered their services!
The next phase is the Exchange building itself. We have determined that a large metal building is the best way to go; but we are working on a design that will best serve our needs. Preliminary designs have been sent to several firms that manufacture buildings (including pole-buildings, all-metal buildings and variations that use fabrics), and we are in discussions with all of them.
We plan to have lots of these details figured out later this month, and we will present them at the public forum on August 25th.
YEAH!!! ALL Exchange building efforts!! Thank you to those that are making this phase happen!
Yes! Can’t wait for the new Exchange to be a reality. Love the metal building idea, btw.
You should check out the metal building that has been put up recently for Orcas Events near the Animal Shelter. It went up very quickly and looks great
Dear Exchange Board and Pete Moe;
You are not only standup people, you are real troopers! You have always been up-front and fully transparent about what is happening, and our options. Your website is the best, most educational, inspiring and up-to-date of any I’ve seen in “the trade” You all are the mouse that roars! You have hung on to this vision of continuing to move toward zero waste, selflessly and unwaveringly – for us. I am happy I am profoundly grateful. I’m very sorry the Carlson site did not work out, as it had many of the things you are looking for; I hope this community rallies round you, and helps you realize this vision that helps all of us and makes our community great.