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Friday June 10th
4pm - 6pm
Lynnwood Operation and Maintenance Center
20525 60th AVE W Lynnwood, WA 98036
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Do you have styrofoam or electronic waste you need to dispose of? Bring it out to our collection event! All Styrofoam must be clean, with stickers and decals removed. For a list of accepted electronic items, visit our website here.
Be sure to mark your calendars for Saturday September 10th! We are finally able to bring back our annual street fair focusing on community health and safety. The Fair will run from 10am to 2pm on 44th Ave W right in front of City Hall.
A shred truck will be present at the North end of the street if you have any shredding needs.
Will will also have booths about some of our community programs like Adopt a Street and Adopt a Drain and would love to meet you there!
If you have any questions check out the event webpage here.
 For more useful tips like this, visit our website here.
REPURPOSING MATERIALS AWAY FROM LANDFILLS
January 18, 2022
By: Damon Carson, Founder and President, repurposedMATERIALs
If there is anyone truly aware of the amount of waste that ends up in landfills every year, and the long-term problems this poses, it’s solid waste professionals.
They are well aware that Americans produce about 4.4 pounds of trash a day, which amounts to roughly 728,000 tons of daily garbage, enough to fill 63,000 garbage trucks.
And they are cognizant that about half of that winds up in the landfill.
For half a century, the solution to the waste problem has been recycling. But recycling involves the reprocessing of materials. Recycling keeps a portion of the junk out of the landfill. But is there some way to more efficiently reduce waste?
One innovative company believes the answer is ‘yes,’ and the solution is not recycling. It’s “repurposing.”
Rather than melting, shredding, chipping or grinding – the recycling process – repurposedMATERIALS finds new uses for materials in their current form. An old fire hose becomes a boat dock guard. A worn out conveyor belt becomes a gun range ballistics curtain. A retired street sweeper brush becomes a scratching post for cattle.
“If something is obsolete to the primary user, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have value somewhere,” repurposedMATERIALS owner Damon Carson said. “If you find yourself saying ‘I can’t use this. What am I going to do with it?’ that’s where we come in.”
repurposedMATERIALS took in the old University of California – Berkeley home basketball court. The same basketball flooring was “repurposed” as a whimsical dividing wall at the new rec center in New Braunfels, TX.
BEFORE
 AFTER
 Carson challenges those in every industry to consider if there are “repurpose-able” options for their obsolete materials before simply banishing them to the landfill.
Additionally, he encourages solid waste professionals to refer producers of large amounts of waste to him before they haul off their potentially “repurpose-able” materials.
“It makes sense environmentally and economically,” Carson said. “Giving materials a second life keeps them out of the landfill, which can come with surprising cost savings.”
Repurposing is at the intersection of affordability and sustainability. For the one getting rid of waste, there may be a savings over paying to dispose of the material. And for the one utilizing repurposed material over a primary-purpose product, there is typically a savings of 50 to 75%.
“We all have a part to play in attacking waste in America,” Carson said. “If you can avoid paying for disposal, and you can keep it out of the landfill, it’s a win-win.”
Carson believes he can help solid waste professionals divert a significant amount of waste before it reaches the landfill.
“Your options are the trash truck or the repurposed materials truck,” Carson said. “One truck is going to take it and bury it. The other truck is going to give it a second life.”
This article was found at https://swana.org/news/blog/swana-post/swana-blog/2022/01/18/repurposing-materials-away-from-landfills
Did you know?
March 1st was the long awaited day when Washingtonians can legally bring their own reusable containers for refilling at restaurants, grocery stores, coffee shops, and more. Food establishments now have the option to allow customers to bring in a clean container to fill, refill, or reuse provided the establishment has an approved plan for delivering the food in a contamination-free manner.
With this revision to the food code, reusables are an easy option (and now legal!) and consumer pressure will help motivate the increased adoption of this practice.
This information was provided by Zero Waste Washington. https://zerowastewashington.org/
Do you have any ideas or suggestions about how to make this newsletter better? Are you involved in or know of any recycling events in our area? Please send an email to mshipley@lynnwoodwa.gov and reference the Recycling Newsletter.
The city of Lynnwood's recycling education program, including this newsletter, is funded in part by the Washington State Department of Ecology.
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