Tag Archives: recycling

Events, Land Use/Zoning, Lost and Found

Think Green Recycling Challenge Grand Prize Winner

Waste Management’s Think Green Recycling Challenge grand prize winner for Seattle is the Wednesday North pickup area!  This area includes Crown Hill and Greenwood.

The grand prize is $40,000 to be distributed through Phinney Neighborhood Association. The celebration will be:

Thursday, June 13th, 11 AM
Phinney Neighborhood Center (Brick Building)
6532 Phinney Ave N
Illuminati attending include: Seattle City Councilmember Mike O’Brien, Seattle Public Utilities Director Tim Croll, and representatives from Waste Management and the winning neighborhoods.

TGRC-Celebration-Event-Invitation

From the press release:

It’s time to celebrate the
Think Green
Recycling Challenge

  • Six months ago, Waste Management challenged ten Seattle communities to reduce their waste by encouraging neighbors to work together to recycle more and model waste reduction activities. Neighborhoods performed recycling carols, organized Halloween costume exchanges, and wrote about why they love recycling.
  • We are proud to honor the four winning neighborhoods of this year’s Think Green Recycling Challenge.
  • Our Wednesday North neighborhood (Crown Hill/Greenwood) is the grand prize winner for their efforts to decrease the overall amount of garbage sent to the landfill. They will receive $40,000 to donate to the non-profit(s) of their choice.
  • With their spirited community outreach, Tuesday North (Ballard), Wednesday South (South Park/Georgetown/Delridge), and Friday North (Wallingford/Green Lake) earned $3,300 each to donate to a local non-profit of their choice.
  • Each of the ten communities has something to be proud of: the average increase in diversion rate –the amount of material kept out of the landfill — increased 1% across all competing neighborhoods, and collectively the neighborhoods composted and recycled over 3,000 tons more than the previous year!

Join us to celebrate the outstanding efforts of this year’s Think Green Recycling Challenge four winning neighborhoods:
When: Thursday, June 13th 11 am
Where: Phinney Neighborhood Center (lower brick building)
6532 Phinney Ave N, Seattle, WA 98103
Who: Seattle Councilmember Mike O’Brien, Seattle Public Utilities Solid Waste Director, Tim Croll, representatives from the winning neighborhoods and Waste Management

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Waste Management strike,July 25th, no waste pickup this week.

Waste Management drivers went on strike today. Most of Crown Hill’s pickup day is Wednesday. Some folk have reported they got garbage pickup only. Most say no pickups happened today. Haul the cans in, and put them out again next Wednesday.

Seattle Public Utilities press release states:

Disruptions in Solid Waste Collections

Customers missed today asked to put out all garbage, yard waste and recycling next Wednesday

As a strike by Teamster Union Local 117 continues, Waste Management is reporting that nearly all of its business and residential garbage, recycling and yard waste collections have stopped in Seattle today — and that many routes, in all wastes streams, will likely remain uncollected by the end of today.

The company also warns of continuing disruptions in solid waste collections tomorrow, Thursday, July 26.

Seattle Public Utilities SPU) asks recycling customers who were missed for collection today to put out their recycling next Wednesday, Aug. 1. There will be no charge for additional items placed at the curb.

Thursday customers should put their garbage, yard waste and recycling out before 7 a.m. tomorrow.

The strike could affect about 60 percent of the city, in Northwest and South Seattle. Teamster Local 117’s contract with Waste Management expired May 31. In Seattle, Local 117 represents only recycling drivers, and other drivers are covered by separate labor agreements. However, Waste Management is reporting that yard and garbage drivers also stopped collecting today.

Collections by CleanScapes, which covers about 40 percent of the city are not impacted by the strike.

SPU Director Ray Hoffman said that although the City of Seattle is not part of the negotiations between Waste Management and the Teamsters, he expects the two parties continue to engage in good faith negotiations toward a speedy and successful outcome.

Under its contract with the city, Waste Management is required to continue services in the event of any disruption. Specifically, any missed collections due to any labor complications must be collected later in the week, or the following week. Waste Management will not be paid for any non-service.

The contract allows the city to deduct approximately $4,500 per day in payments to Waste Management for any services that are not completed the next day. For any interruptions that continue more than a week, contractors can also be fined substantially for service failure, up to $250,000 per day.

“Protecting public health and safety will continue to be the city’s guiding principle throughout this collection disruption,” Hoffman said.

SPU will provide updates as needed. Customers with solid waste service issues or concerns may call the Call Center at 206-684-3000.

Customers with labor/union questions or concerns should contact Waste Management or Teamsters Local 117.

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Opt out of phone books

Seattle recently enacted a couple of ordinances which will make it easier to opt out of yellow page phone book deliveries. These ordinances provide for stiff penalties for companies delivering unwanted directories to your home if you have opted out. Seattle has contracted with Catalog Choice, an outside agency for this service. Catalog Choice handles junk mail as well. They do require creating an account to manage which phone books (if any) you wish to receive. More information is available at Seattle Public Utilities.  SPU maintains a Frequently Asked Question page as well with the answers to a lot of potential concerns.

You have to take the initiative to opt out of the delivery. Many folk already just drop their phone books in the recycle bin the day they are received. Opting out solves not only the immediate problem of unwanted yellow pages, but also the overloading of the recycling operation, and reduces the waste of forest resources. Your opt-out selections must be made 30 days in advance of the scheduled delivery for them to be honored. The Dex deadline for opt-out is May 16th.

The web site for Catalog Choice is slow today (May 5th) due to the extremely high percentage of Seattle residents who wish to opt out or otherwise manage their yellow pages deliveries. The ordinances are not popular with the phone book companies, and some are mounting a First Amendment challenge to them as noted in this article on the PI. Update: As of May 10th, 105,000 Seattle households have opted out per this article.