The proposals facing this island regarding waste disposal are clear. They represent a meaningful turning point for our community.
One alternative means more and more trucks leaving the island with “waste” slated for entombment in massive landfills on the dry side of the Cascade Mountains. This solution is quick and simple. It moves the waste out of sight, out of mind and quickly solves a problem. Experience has shown such a system, fueled by profit in the disposal of waste will cost more and more in the future. Fees will rise. In the future recycling will decline.
The proposal by The Exchange/Orcas Recycling Services builds on 30 years of conservation experience here on Orcas Island and offers to expand an array of recycling and reuse programs. Their proposal, in the words of the evaluation team, offers a “robust” array of services.
Year after year, they will recycle, reuse and repair more and more of what we throw away. Unused appliances, computers and tools will be offered to the community and be available for education, training and eventual reuse. Students may have access to a computer, others will experience the pleasure of returning a cranky piece of equipment into a useful tool again. Their proposal will result in fewer trucks crowding our ferries.
The Exchange has long provided opportunities for this community to work, volunteer or just to experience the pleasure of a low key treasure hunt. Anyone can experience the rewards of converting something no longer useful into a found object at the Orcas bargain exchange. These are tangible benefits to sustainable living, to a community. This proposal offers to increase recycling and adds many more benefits in the future.
Significant financial resources will also remain here on this island. Hard earned cash is saved in the Exchange process. Valuable resources will be available for reuse here, not buried out of sight for generations. In the process hundreds of residents, new and old become part of this community conservation effort. Donors, volunteers and bargain hunters, all gain value and meaning in this practical aspect of sustainable living.
Under the Orcas Recycling proposal leaves, food waste and organic yard material will be composed and returned to the build the thin soil of this island, a process nature started after the last ice age. It makes this island more livable. Composting aids gardens, small farmers and local restaurants promising home grown food.
My claim that the alternative to Orcas Recycling Services will in the future cost more and waste more is based on experience. I directed a large and complex program of waste disposal, including food, medical, radioactive and chemical and other hazardous waste at the University of California, Davis. I experienced first hand the increasing cost of what seemed simple disposal problems. Community and campus based recycling programs were always cheaper and brought a wide array of benefits to everyone involved.
Later as the director of the large five county Portland Metro solid waste program I had the same first hand experience. Shipping waste is a deceptively simple choice. It is grows more expensive and is the enemy of conservation and the sustainable use of resources.
There may be some utility in entombing newspapers like this one in an arid landfill where future generations of archeologist will be able to read long forgotten news of this island. Better to turn the newsprint back to mother earth.
Bern Shanks
Deer Harbor
