Neighborhood Waste Reduction Rewards
Waste Less. Win More.

What Are Your Neighbors Doing?

If you are looking for local inspiration, you don’t have to look too far. The following stories and interviews were inspired by individual and community waste reduction projects happening in Seattle and Shoreline!

• Queen Anne Legislator’s Family Challenge

• Local Family’s Goal: Zero Waste

• Local School Holds "No Trash Lunch Day"

• Holiday Trees Transformed Into Spring Garden Mulch

• Queen Anne Legislator’s Family Challenge
   Read Full Interview | Read Reuven’s Blog

When Washington State Rep. Reuven Carlyle heard about the Neighborhood Waste Reduction Rewards competition he decided to start a competition of his own – a very personal one. He challenged his family of six to reduce their own garbage, recycling and yard waste by 25%!

 With four young children, Rep. Reuven saw the CleanScapes competition as an opportunity to teach his kids about the importance of recycling and waste reduction. When asked where his family would focus first he said, “We now watch our garbage very closely and make 100% certain to try and throw out only non-recyclable items. We’re getting another recycling bin and making our garbage can smaller.” In April we will check in with the Carlyle Family and see how they did!

• Local Family’s Goal: Zero Waste
When the Peterka family moved from their farm in Carnation back to Shoreline, they decided to bring the farm and their zero-waste strategy with them. They have become role models for neighbors and the Shoreline community as local leaders in urban farming and community gardening.

The Peterka’s zero waste lifestyle has inspired the City of Shoreline to offer a new service: a 10-gallon monthly garbage pick-up option. How do they do it? Step by step. They replaced their lawn with an urban garden and a chicken coop; they compost their food scraps with a worm bin, and they do not purchase any food that comes in plastic. What they do not grow, they buy from local, year-round farmers markets, and dehydrate and can what they grow and purchase during the summer and fall harvest seasons to eat during the winter and spring. They replaced paper towels with cloth kitchen towels and napkins, and only use reusable mugs, plates, utensils, and shopping bags. If they need something for one time projects, they borrow or rent it and then share with their neighbors. For birthdays and holidays, they make what they give away as gifts. Where do they find the time? They traded TV and computer time for gardening and cooking as a family. Working together, they have built a lifestyle that produces minimal waste! Read the full interview here.

• Local School Holds "No Trash Lunch Day"
As a parent and PTA member, Susie O’Donnell wanted to make a difference at her kids’ elementary school. After starting an environmental committee of the Echo Lake Elementary PTA she heard about a project that she thought the teachers and kids could get excited about. For 2009’s Earth Day, she decided that a “No Trash Lunch Day” would be the big event. The prize? The classes which produced the least waste would win an extra recess.

A month before the event, the custodian helped separate the waste from the school’s three lunch periods. All of the bags were brought on stage during a school-wide assembly to show the kids what they created during that day’s lunch. Teachers announced the “No Trash” challenge, Susie sent flyers home to parents, and the Student Council made posters highlighting how kids could reduce waste from their lunches. After the Earth Day lunchtime trash weighed-in, the total student population had succeeded in reducing their trash by 52%! The K-2nd graders won the extra recess, and the event’s success inspired the school to add recycling containers to the lunchroom.Read the full interview here.

•  Holiday Trees Transformed Into Spring Garden Mulch
In response to the Neighborhood Rewards challenge, Eric Hunter-Gale with Green Man Tree Service, LLC decided to help his Madrona neighbors reduce yard waste by offering free chipping events on January 2nd & 9th. Neighbors came and lined with Christmas trees and other woody holiday shrubs, and left with chips for their spring gardens.

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