By Elizabeth Anderson
San Juan County Solid Waste Program Planner
From a sustainability perspective, a mandate to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle makes sense. Should these activities be a personal goal, a county-wide policy, required? – and, if any of these, how do we come together on promoting or implementing them?
Garbage and recyclables in themselves are complicated materials – ranging from common plastic bottles to toxic waste – and there must be different systems for handling them. Here are some of the elements to consider in a system to handle solid waste in San Juan County:
- Waste reduction
- Reuse
- Recycling
- Organic material and composting
- Construction and demolition debris
- Collection
- Transfer and destinations of garbage and recyclables
- Hazardous waste management
- Education and outreach
- Administration and regulation
The Solid and Hazardous Waste Plan revision process the County is initiating in May 2010 will provide a structure to discuss our system and to analyze the services that we have and that we want. We are beginning with small discussion groups – round-table meetings, where everyone can consider which are the most significant issues, discuss where and how they are problematic, and engage in dialog about the best methods of dealing with garbage and recycling – both personally and for all the islands in the county.
You are invited to participate in the planning process. Sustainability Orcas Island will host a roundtable discussion to select the topics that are of greatest concern and to suggest goals for these important issues.
The meeting will be May 12 from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at the Orcas Island Public Library. Call 3786-4985 for further information.
