Guest Editorial: Think AND Act Local on Earth Day

— by Pete Moe, Orcas Recycling Services (ORS) Director —

As the 45th Earth Day arrives, it’s a little hard to feel good about it. The Earth, that is. Despite the best intentions of many, climate change is looking like a genie that’s not going back in the bottle.

At Orcas Recycling Services we are always thinking about the waste stream on Orcas Island and the waste stream does affect the climate.

Ten percent of this county’s greenhouse gas emissions are in the form of methane. Landfills are the third largest source of methane after (1) the fossil fuel industry and (2) animal farming, according to the EPA. Methane is a by-product of decomposition. So, as trash breaks down in landfills, methane – a greenhouse gas – is produced in significant quantities, further contributing to climate change.

While reusing and recycling does help, the amount of material being diverted from landfills is (we are sorry to report) pretty marginal. For every can of garbage your household creates, U.S. industry creates seventy or more!

You’ve heard the phrase, “Think global, act local”. Well neither thinking nor acting seems to be working so well on a global scale…so what are we to do? We can’t throw up our hands and give up. We need to think and act locally.

Here in the San Juans we’re blessed with the unique combination of a beautiful ecosystem and a progressive community that actually cares about its environmental impact.

This weekend, during the “Great Islands Clean-up”, nearly 300 volunteers picked up 6,232 lbs of trash and recycling on Orcas, San Juan and Lopez. That’s more than three tons! 949 pounds of that was recyclable, and was diverted from the landfill. Now, that’s thinking and acting locally.

Lopez Island’s Transfer Station, run by the non-profit Lopez Solid Waste Disposal District, will accept an award in May for the best recycling program in Washington State. They are the only island currently sorting recyclables. They sort and bale almost everything that comes in, and they have a fantastic re-use center, the “Take It or Leave it.” That is thinking and acting locally.

On Orcas, we are in process of re-building The Exchange, our own re-use facility. As soon as that goes live, we will build a recycling facility to sort and bale like Lopez. These two infrastructure projects will take a huge bite out of the amount of material we ship off to our landfill in Eastern Washington.

That’s just the beginning. From there we imagine composting programs, waste to energy programs and more—all leading us to the ideal of a Zero Waste community. And I, for one, can’t imagine a community with a better shot at the ideal than this one!

So this Earth Day, let’s focus on our little corner of the Earth. Maybe if we can do something good here, it will spread to the next little corner. And the next. And so on. You can start by minimizing the amount of trash your household puts into the waste stream by composting, reusing and recycling more – and more efficiently. This will reduce Orcas Island’s contribution to methane production and climate change.

Check out exchangeorcas.org to learn more about how to properly recycle and sign up for our e-newsletter to get updates about the rebuilding of The Exchange re-use facility.