As the new year approaches, let’s celebrate some impressive environmental achievements on Vashon Island.

First, let’s talk about recycling.

It’s been just over a year since Nadine Edelstein’s Sunday Styrofoam recycling program ended, and recycling company Ridwell now has more than 400 islanders subscribing to their service. You may have seen their four-to-six vans visiting the island every other Thursday to collect our Styrofoam, plastic film, multi-layered film, batteries, textiles, and other items.

Some neighborhoods have formed co-ops where friends have joined together and shared an “unlimited” subscription ($24 per month), allowing up to five 30-gallon bags of every category to be collected every other week. A big thanks to Will Forrester and Ace Service Center for organizing the many dozens of bags of Styrofoam that John Burke and I funneled through our unlimited Ridwell subscriptions. (The classic plan costs $14 per month.)

A big shout-out goes to the Vashon Park District for maintaining the two recycling stations at Ober Park and the Village Green. These were built by Vashon High School students and Vashon Makerspace three years ago, thanks to a King County CSA grant to pay for the materials.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have recycling bins next to each of the ten black metal trash bins that King County kindly installed in the village center last year? Let’s all ask Bong Santo Domingo at King County Local Services to see how and when this can be accomplished.

Thanks are also due to Celia Congdon and Nancy O’Connor for organizing the two “Choose Plastic Free” meetups this year at the Land Trust — where we have all learned the value of “bringing our own mug.” At the last meet-up, we learned from Heather Trim at Zero Waste Washington about environmental legislation expected in the 2025 Washington State legislative session starting in January.

The bottom line is to end the use of single-use plastics, as well as plastics with toxic additives, such as those described in a study just published in the journal Chemosphere (Liu et al., 2024). That study found that high levels of brominated flame retardant additives (proven endocrine disruptors, neurotoxins and carcinogens) from recycled plastics have made their way into a wide range of black plastics (food utensils, food trays, toys and other household items), exposing humans to potentially high levels of toxins.

What about green energy? Our island now boasts more than 450 individual solar installations — more than doubling the amount over the last five years — generating more than 4,000 MWh of renewable electricity. That’s more than 6% of the total electricity used on the island as of December 2023, according to Puget Sound Energy. One of the island’s largest solar arrays is at the Vashon Recycling and Transfer Station, consisting of 348 panels and generating more than 172,000 kWh per year.

King County’s Solid Waste Division has nicely contributed to King County Strategic Climate Action Plan goals by obtaining funding for and installing this solar array in 2022. Earlier this year, the transfer station achieved Zero Energy Certification by the International Living Future Institute. The facility generates much more energy through solar power than it draws from the electricity grid. Stay tuned for an upcoming community event when the Zero Energy Certification plaque will be installed and celebrated.

In November 2023, the King County Council approved $5 million in funding to improve an organic yard waste material drop-off and build a compost facility at the transfer station. The Solid Waste Division has assembled a project team and is currently putting together all the governance documents.

We look forward to learning more about the progress of this important project, which will save more than $250,000 per year spent trucking the island’s yard and food waste to the Cedar Grove Compost facility in Maple Valley — not to mention the carbon footprint of that travel and space taken up on the ferries. It will also keep our valuable organic matter on the island to improve the island’s soil health. The transfer station will, hopefully, be able to accept Styrofoam and plastic film in the near future.

Vashon Rotary is planning to organize a beach cleanup for the island for the next Rotary EPIC Day of Service, which will be Saturday, May 17, 2025. All islanders and environmental organizations are invited to participate. Stay tuned for more information in the coming months, and contact me if you have any questions.

Finally, I sincerely thank you all for your efforts helping to make our wonderful island an exceptionally green, sustainable and resilient place!

Steve Bergman is a geologist, Zero Waste Vashon board member and Whole Vashon Project advisor.