Slim Your Waste With These Easy Steps

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…

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I Love Recycling Because

The Think Green Recycling Challenge rolls on. Wallingford's Waste Management route, Friday North,is in ninth place as of the end of November 2012. Hey, we have nowhere to go but up! But we do have a good chance of winning up to $10,000 for neighborhood projects as a result of monthly Recycling Challenge outreach activities. Some past activities have been a Halloween costume exchange, no-waste Thanksgiving recipes, recycled-material holiday ornaments along 45th, and a Recycling Challenge display and sorting game at…

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Holiday Light Recycling

Keep those burned out, inefficient, or just plain tacky holiday lights out of the landfill. This holiday season there are a few options for recycling your old strings of lights near the 'hood: Whole Foods Markets:  all locations Maple Leaf Ace Hardware Girl Scouts of Western WA, collecting for Point Defiance Zoo:  601 Valley Street (just west of Aurora) When you donate holiday lights, remove all packaging, twist-ties and rubber bands. Place lights directly in the collection bin, with no bags…

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Cooking for Compost at Thanksgiving

"Cooking for Compost?" Sounds like what happens when no one likes what I make for dinner. Maybe a better description is  "No Waste Recipes." Whatever the name, they'll help you have a more sustainable Thanksgiving feast. Prepare holiday dishes from fresh ingredients, without single-use packaging, where food waste can be used in other food or composted. This should be easy as pie in Seattle, where nearly all food scraps can go in the food and yard waste bin (the main exception…

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National Costume Swap Day – Saturday, Oct. 13

Get your green (as in re-used) costume on! Or drop off one that doesn't fit any more. Saturday from noon to 2 pm at Whole Foods at Roosevelt Square (1026 NE 64th St) celebrate a green Halloween by participating in National Costume Swap Day. From now until noon Saturday you can also drop off your gently used and clean costumes.  You will receive a ticket which will allow you to return and receive a new (to you) costume. Here are some…

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Waste Management/Teamsters Reach Tentative Agreement

From the Waste Management website this evening: Waste Management and Teamsters Local 117 have reached a tentative agreement on a new 6-year contract. Teamster leadership and the bargaining committee will fully recommend that members approve the new contract at the ratification vote scheduled for 9:00am on Thursday, August 2, 2012 at the Union Hall in Tukwila. Garbage drivers will return to work in the morning and begin servicing their regular Thursday collection routes. However, due to the timing of the ratification…

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Recycling Challenge Results

The results are in for the Waste Management Think Green Recycling Challenge. The last two months of the contest had neighborhoods shifting around in the rankings, including the Friday North route (Wallingford) which slipped to second place as of the end of February. As you can see by the final results, the competition was intense. With an increase in diversion of 0.92%, Friday South - Rainier Beach - will receive $50,000 for a community improvement project of their choice. Friday North…

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