About 10 days ago, it seemed that spring was on hold.

And then, suddenly blooms burst open on trees and daffodils, and it was a race to the garden. But for some of us, there was also the promise to clean out the garage, the laundry room, under the sink, that musty storage shed, and, oh yes, the trunk of the car.

Sun does wonders for creating resolutions to refresh and tidy one’s environment. The strengthening of the light every day increases the possibilities for both work and play.

With all this motivation in mind, it becomes especially important that there be no blockage in the pipeline to renewal. That is, in order to keep oneself not only on track to create beauty and order outwardly, there is also the ethics of sustainability and responsible recycling — which, let’s face it, is good inwardly for your ever-greening soul.

What blockage might impede such soul cleansing?

Well, you know: the intense desire to chuck into the trash that half-empty can of paint, that accumulation of dead batteries, the assortment of a gazillion screws, nuts and bolts, the nauseating half-bag of heavily-perfumed kitty litter, and the tiny cute-but-homeless Christmas ornament that is easier to throw away than to haul out the ornament collection that’s already gone to the attic.

This commentary, therefore, is here to remind you that King County, Vashon businesses and organizations continue to offer ever-more comprehensive solutions for dealing with such obstacles to a clear conscience in the bright, new season ahead.

Here’s an inspirational sample of Vashon’s robust recycling opportunities, folks!

• Ace Hardware: Accepts used paint, deck coatings, primers, stains, rust preventives and field and lawn paints. Ace rejects anything with solvents, aerosol cans, marine and auto paints, preservatives, glues, and adhesives —wait for Toxic Recycling Day). There’s a pamphlet in the store’s painting department for details.
• Ace Service Center: Dead batteries of all sorts, by weight, a minimal charge. Also compact fluorescent light bulbs. Uncontaminated motor oil, up to five gallons! Old propane tanks!
• Granny’s Attic: Yes, besides the more obvious giveaways, like clothing, toys, books, magazines, furniture, etc. Granny’s will take half-used bags of kitty litter and half-used cleaning products (not liquid). They will take assorted nuts, bolts, screws and other debris from your winter projects (in baggies, please). They will re-home that tiny, homeless Christmas ornament, and the pile of coins from your trip to Croatia. They’ll take a single curtain rod. But guess what? Not an ironing board.
• Vashon Library: Gently used books. Granny’s will also take them. And so will the recycling compactors at the Transfer Station, although it hurts to suggest that option.
• Vashon Care Closet accepts a variety of medical equipment and is a lending library for the island — a great way to get more life out of those crutches!
• Vashon Food Bank: Stop storing those boxes and cans of food you know you’ll never eat and escort them to the Food Bank donation shed (if their sell-by date is still good).
• VashonTools.org: Those three extra screwdrivers and your good old push lawnmower (not gasoline-powered, please) go to the Vashon Tool Library, open three hours on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
• Styrofoam and plastics of all sorts — even broken lawn chairs — are now collected twice monthly from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sundays at the Sheffield Building off 188th St. by Zero Waste Vashon volunteers.
• Check out Allison & Pete’s Musical Instrument Library to see if they need a working instrument you no longer use and it will get a new tuneful life.
• The Vashon Recycling and Transfer Station also takes mercury-containing light bulbs for free — and you know you’re going to want to deposit yard waste there (fees apply) instead of polluting your neighborhood with a burn pile. They also take food waste but eliminate the containers or utensils. Ask for their latest information hand-out when you stop by.
• ZeroWasteVashon.org is full of info about where stuff goes—it’s a good read!
• Vashonfixit.com: If you’ve not brought a broken lamp and a stuck zipper vest to that party, now’s the time to visit their website and get inspired.
• Vashon Youth & Family Services Family Place Community Closet, on Gorsuch Road, accepts items that community members can borrow; email vyfscommunitycloset@vyfs.org with your questions.
• Facebook and other websites! Don’t forget the Facebook groups Barter Buy and Sell and Buy Nothing Vashon, or visit this website.
• End of your driveway. Don’t junk up our roads, but if you have a goodie that you’re pretty sure someone will grab up, try it for two days and if it is not gone, re-read this article.

Happy Spring!

Green Briefs is a regular series of commentaries by eco-leaders on Vashon, presented in The Beachcomber in partnership with the wholevashonproject.org. Rondi Lightmark is the founder of the organization.