In January, islander Nadine Edelstein filled up a box truck with the island’s Styrofoam in a matter of hours and took it off-island to be recycled. Now, she is expanding on that mission with the help of two island nonprofits, offering community Styrofoam collection the first Sunday of every month, beginning this weekend.
This Sunday, she plans to be at the former Kimmco Building (the future of Camp Colvos Brewing) from noon to 4 p.m. and will collect a variety of materials, including clean and dirty Styrofoam, clean takeout and meat trays, and clean packing peanuts. In addition to taking these items to be recycled, she said she intends to hold a shipping materials swap. Those materials, such as peanuts and bubble wrap, can be expensive. Instead of recycling them — or worse, throwing the materials away, she encourages islanders who have an unwanted supply to drop them off with her. People who would like them should let her know, and she will set them aside for pickup.
“This is almost more important to me than the recycling, the reuse part of it,” she said.
Both the Vashon-Maury Community Food Bank and ZeroWasteVashon are partnering with Edelstein for this pilot program.
The collaboration with the food bank came about because of a chance meeting between food bank board member Kimberly Norris-Kyles at the January recycling event, when the women discovered that the food bank sends it truck off each week to Northwest Harvest for food collection — just blocks from StyroRecycle.
Now, the food bank will send its truck once a month to accomplish both tasks. Initially, Edelstein said she will take that on, just to make sure it all goes smoothly.
Food bank Executive Director Robbie Rohr said she is happy the agency is able to participate.
“We appreciate the passion that the island has for yet another innovation to take care of the environment and the community and are pleased we can be part of it,” she said.
Will Lockwood, of ZeroWasteVashon, said that organization, too, is pleased to be part of the effort.
“We try to nurture these independent ventures,” he said.
He added that ZeroWasteVashon’s goal is to have Styrofoam collection at the island’s transfer station. He also said that the organization is developing data to share with King County.
“It is a slow process, but King County does listen. Once we have developed a strong case, then they work with us.”
Both he and Edelstein talked about the need for waste reduction, with China no longer accepting recycling from the United States and the King County landfill filling up.
“We have to do better at stopping this stuff from getting in the landfill,” he said.
Contact nadine@nadineedelstein.com for more information.
— Susan Riemer
