Ecology Youth Corps get it done!

Litter season ends with a landfill tour, celebration

Ecology Youth Corps across Washington wrapped up their season this week, including crews from Central Washington that worked from the top of Snoqualmie Pass to Highway 14 along the Columbia River.

It was a productive summer, with youth crews across the state picking up more than a million pounds of litter on state roadways. The crews sort out the recyclables, then send the rest to a landfill.

Youth ended their season with a visit to the Terrace Heights Landfill

"This is the first job for many of these kids," said longtime regional EYC supervisor Rod Hankinson. "These kids are tough - this isn't an easy job.

 

"I tell them this is the kind of work that helps them throughout their life, it teaches them to respect the environment and what they can do about it. It sets them up to receive recommendations to college from their supervisors, and if they work for me for two years - they'll get a recommendation from me."

What did they find on the roadways? Alongside the cigarette butts, fast-food paper waste, cups, cans and bottles you would expect, each year brings surprises. One girl found a "ninja star," another found baby clothes. Pocket knives and phones are common finds. In the Seattle area, an EYC crew came across a World War I-era rifle (which was passed on to police). Larger debris, like boards, car parts and furniture is also hauled away.

The central region crews ended their season with a tour of the Terrace Heights Landfill in Yakima County, where they learned about recycling and reusing household hazardous wastes like paint, batteries and household cleaning products. They watched yard waste being chipped and turned into valuable compost. They tested the temperatures of various yard waste piles to check on the progress of the composting process. They learned the life of the landfill was coming to an end -- all the more reason for recyclable products to find a new life as a new product in new markets.

 

To end their summer tour, the EYC crews left the landfill for a picnic of pizza in the park. Needless to say, after they finished eating, they picked up their trash and left the park spotless. Check out the crew's Flickr set

 
Want to know where you can recycle moderate risk waste in your community?
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/swfa/mrw/mrw_contacts.html#local

Story and photos by Joye Redfield-Wilder, Central Regional Communications Manager



Ecology Youth Corp Crews from Ellensburg to Goldendale celebrate the end of the 2016 litter pickup season

 

Hazardous waste: Out of sight, out of mind?

Ecology hazardous waste inspector challenges all of us to think again 

by Krista Kenner, communications

It’s easy to go about your day and not think about hazardous waste disposal—out of sight, out of mind, right? But it’s important to step back every so often and think about how we as a community, and as individuals, generate and manage our waste.

And more importantly ask, can we do a better job?

Mindy Collins, hazardous waste compliance inspector in Ecology’s Bellingham office, has thought about waste almost every day of her 20-year environmental career, which has largely focused on waste disposal and management.

Collins is part of Ecology’s Hazardous Waste & Toxics Reduction team. Her job is to help businesses figure out how to better manage the waste they generate. (And save money along the way.)

Sometimes that means reducing waste through innovation. Other times that means changing disposal methods. But before she can do any of that, she has to learn about their business, their products and the processes that create waste.

“I feel so lucky,” said Collins. “I get to talk to people about their businesses, and learn about their products. The stories I get to hear about the history of the company, or how they started making a product—it’s just fascinating.”

Different businesses, common concerns

You might be surprised to learn the wide range of businesses and organizations that generate hazardous waste. Big box stores, hospitals, universities, and even art studios, to name a few.

Collins typically visits businesses that generate a significant volume of hazardous waste—220 lbs or more of waste per month—or those that need additional help managing it. In the last year, she visited a boat builder, wood treatment facility, aerospace manufacturer, pharmaceutical manufacturer, a company that makes fishing lures, and a company that makes orthotics for children.

“There’s one commonality in all of these vastly different companies,” Collins said. “Business owners are busy. And let’s face it, environmental regulations can be confusing—especially to someone who doesn’t work with them every day. I really enjoy helping people navigate the process.”

She looks at how wastes are stored, and whether there are any risks to human health or the environment. Are the containers appropriate, and in good condition? Are they labeled correctly? Is there a spill response plan? She also looks at the company’s waste disposal records to see what is going where. Each industry and business has its own set of challenges and complexities, but success stories abound.

Putting business practices to good use

Earth Day is less than two weeks away, making April a great month to look inward and refocus our own daily habits. How can we take a Mindy Collins approach to household waste? What ingredients make up the products we use? How should they be safely disposed? What are we throwing away that could be put to better use?

Most of us lead busy lives and changing habits is difficult—especially when we don’t have an environmental consultant to guide us. So we’ve culled our online resources to help you.

Tools to reduce, manage, and safely dispose of household waste:

1.) Be curious. We have a team of people that test consumer products to ensure that manufacturers are complying with restrictions and reporting requirements. You can read these reports, or search for information on individual products.

2.) Choose safer products. We’ve compiled a list of great resources for shoppers looking for safer, greener products. EPA also has an interactive tool to help find better products for the home, school, office and more.

3.) Think before you buy, or throw away. Adhesives, degreasers, toilet cleaners, batteries, and paint are among the many hazardous wastes that are common in households. Choose alternative products, buy in small quantities, and safely dispose at a hazardous waste collection site.

4.) Recycle fluorescent lights. The LightRecycle Washington program helps Washington residents and businesses recycle fluorescent and mercury-containing lights for free.

5.) Recycle electronics. E-Cycle Washington is a successful program that helps keep old electronics, which may contain toxic materials, out of our landfills. Bring televisions, computers, monitors and tablets and more to an e-Cycle location in your area.

Earth Day every day

Earth Day is Friday, April 22. (And every day is a good day to inspire better habits for the environment!) In the next two weeks, we’ll have additional blog posts about our work and how you can help protect the earth! Find it all on our social media channels by searching #EarthPassItOn.

1-800-RECYCLE answers the big questions

By Andrew Wineke, communications manager, Waste 2 Resources

Where do you go to recycle llama poop?

That was one of the first questions Ecology’s Michelle Payne received when she began staffing the 1-800-RECYCLE hotline back in 1998.

Most of us know where to go to recycle aluminum cans or newspapers, but what about a tanning bed? How about a scuba tank? What about an old set of blueprints?

The 1-800-RECYCLE line (1-800-732-9253) is a free service that helps Washington residents find the appropriate place to recycle just about everything. The hotline’s database includes 1,801 recycling facilities and 116 different types of recyclable materials.

And, yes, that includes llama manure. As it turns out, Payne says, you can take it to a composting facility.

The 1-800-RECYCLE hotline has operated since 1976, and the 1800RECYCLE.wa.gov website came online along with Michelle in 1998. The 1-800-RECYCLE Facebook page started just last year.

Three Ecology staff members answer the hotline from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekdays – which will expand to 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays beginning May 1. The phone team averages nearly 400 calls a month, while another 6,000 people find answers on the automated website.

The 1-800-RECYCLE team relies on local governments, businesses and the public to learn about new collection sites, or new materials being accepted for recycling. They work hard to keep the database current, checking on every facility via the web or through an email or phone call at least once a year.

If you know of a new facility, or an existing facility accepting new materials, email 1800recycle@ecy.wa.gov.

And if you’ve got some alpaca scat you need to unload, now you know who to call.

Recycling – another way to reduce our carbon footprint

By Andrew Wineke, communications manager, Waste 2 Resources Program

When we talk about climate change, we usually talk about improving fuel efficiency or increasing use of public transit. That makes sense, because in Washington, transportation is the single biggest source of our greenhouse gas emissions.


But did you know that recycling can also have a significant impact on the amount of greenhouse gases we produce?

It’s true. Collecting, processing, and transporting recycled materials almost always uses less energy than extracting, refining, transporting, and processing raw materials.

Consider the humble aluminum beverage can: To make an ordinary 12-ounce can, using recycled aluminum instead of raw materials reduces energy consumption by 95 percent.

Let’s run the numbers on a larger scale:

• In 2013, 8 million tons of material were collected for recycling in Washington. This effort:
• Saved energy equivalent to 1 billion gallons of gasoline, or more than 128 trillion British thermal units (BTUs) of energy.Prevented 3.1 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions — about 905 pounds per person.
• That impact is similar to taking 2.4 million vehicles off the road.

Want to know more? We break the data down by category in this focus sheet.