Volunteers fill many important roles at LSWDD and the award-winning Recycle Dogs are no exception. These dedicated volunteers separate out different types of metals from items like BBQs and appliances that are brought to the Lopez Dump for disposal. In 2020, they won the Washington State Recycling Association Community Recycler Award and in 2021, they beat their previous record and diverted 8,420 lbs. of high grade metals consisting of copper, brass, stainless steel and aluminum, generating nearly $5k in revenue for LSWDD. Wow, impressive! Interested in volunteering at the Lopez Dump? It’s easy, fill out the online form right here on our website!

Did you know that food scraps are the single largest component of landfill waste in the US? What about on Lopez Island? We don’t have the answer and would like you to help us! We will be conducting a household survey to gather information about home composting on Lopez Island. Please help us by participating in the home composting survey the next time you visit the Lopez Dump! Why composting? Read on! There are many benefits to home composting, including: Save Money Reduce your garbage bill by composting food waste. Studies have found that about 35% of household waste is organic material. By composting, you could potentially reduce your garbage expenses by a third! Save Water When you compost, you build soil. Adding compost to your garden and flower beds contributes to soil health, and helps the soil retain moisture. Save Resources Lower your carbon footprint by reducing trips to the dump, and reducing the amount of material that has to be trucked off island and transported across the state to a landfill. Save the Planet When we compost, our food scraps break down into a healthy soil amendment. When we throw our food scraps into the garbage, all that organic material releases methane as it breaks down. According to the EPA, Methane is the third-largest source of human-related methane emissions in the United States. Methane gas is a source of significant greenhouse gas emissions and is 28 to 36 times more powerful than CO2 at trapping heat, and is a major contributor to climate change. Every time we divert organic matter from the landfill, we reduce potential greenhouse gas emissions. Inspired and want to start composting now? Here are some links to more information and resources about home composting. Would you like a little more guidance? Feel free to reach out to Larissa Mansfield at LSWDD with your questions. EPA, Composting at Home https://www.epa.gov/recycle/composting-home Recycle Now - Backyard Composting https://www.ecocycle.org/backyard-composting WSU Backyard Composting Guide (downloadable pdf) https://pubs.extension.wsu.edu/backyard-composting Are you an experienced composter who would like to share your expertise with others and/or help LSWDD promote home composting? Great, contact us!

“Wardrobes of Reclaimed Beauty” Maker in Residence Art Show Friday, November 12, 5-7 pm at the ReMakery Drowning in clothes? Us too! Fast fashion has been inundating the world and Lopez Island with a sea unwanted of textiles for many decades. Pre-pandemic, Lopez Solid Waste Disposal District shipped off nearly 50,000 lbs of textiles per year sending them to the Goodwill Industries. But since the pandemic, breaks in the supply chains of global transport have made textile recycling nearly impossible for islanders. Therefore there are around 5,000 lbs of textiles currently being stored in a shipping container on site at LSWDD, without many easily achieved options for getting them into reuse or recycle. Enter October’s ReMakery Makers in Residence: Matia Indigo Jones and Jessica McCullough. These two artists are both focused on textile reuse, visible mending, and restoring garments to both usability and beauty during their month long residency. In their upcoming art show “Wardrobes of Reclaimed Beauty” on Friday, November 12 from 5-7 pm, McCullough and Jones are exploring ancient technologies like mending, darning, and small alterations to resurrect otherwise discarded garments and thus interrupt the waste stream of disposable fashion culture. McCullough is exploring the recently popularized practice of Visible Mending. This technique combines embroidery and stylized, purposeful image making to mend holes and tears or other imperfections in otherwise usable garments. She taught a class on visible mending in October. There are many newly published books on this style, some of which are for sale at the Lopez Bookshop, and which McCullough is using as inspiration for her work. These books are on display in the window of the ReMakery over her Maker in Residence workspace and will be on display at the exhibition. Jones is exploring small repairs, alterations, and fabric dying to resurrect high quality garments that could still have many good years left in them. She is offering a free class called “Minimal Effort Upcycling” on Wednesday, November 10th from 5-7 pm where participants are invited to bring in articles of clothing that only need simple changes, repairs or alterations to become beautiful and wearable once more. Please RSVP to Nikyta Palmisani at nikytap@lopezsolidwaste.org to reserve your class space. There will be gorgeous pieces of reclaimed clothing available for sale at the opening. Purchasing these beautified items helps build the local circular economy and support island artists and entrepreneurs while simultaneously reducing the consumption of new items that use virgin resources. This is also a wonderful antidote to online holiday gift buying anxiety.

New Maker in Residence Art Show: “Upcycled Stardust” The ReMakery (behind Lopez Bookstore) welcomes you to the newest Maker in Residence art show opening Friday, August 6 from 5-8 pm, with an artist talk 6-7 pm. This month’s Makers in Residence are Julia Mira and Lucy McGown. Julia Mira is a school teacher on Waldron Island, and an experienced maker and artist in many mediums. She speaks about her background and current body of work as, “I was born in Hollywood a long time ago. I remember jacaranda trees and wild parrots; the thick smell of eucalyptus and jasmine; torrential rains and choking smog; palms and carob trees crammed with songbirds. The Pacific Northwest has different constellations, a different smell and texture. Almost thirty years off the grid placed me squarely in the dirt and water, with the patterns and relationships to be found here. My practice arises from that messy, fecund interleaving. Messy and fecund. The world is so big! TIOLI has so much stuff to work with! How to honor ALL of it? During the Maker in Residency month of July I’m re-purposing books into sketchbooks, tucking some of the greeting cards and envelopes from that delicious collection at TIOLI into their pages. Who could resist “Thinking of You” between the covers of a retired mechanical engineering book? So many lovely fabric scraps pass through TIOLI shelves, and I’ve found the perfect vehicle for them–a roomy patchwork bag that showcases them–velvets, silks, and calicos alike. Outside my kitchen window, I’ve set up several natural dye vats along with their mordants and assists. There’s even an indigo vat, which periodically blooms with the characteristic “flower” that tells me the pH is (temporarily, alas) correct. Experimenting with this fabric art gives me the opportunity to use cotton bedsheets and only slightly stained linens from the bedding section of TIOLI. The resulting botanical prints find new life as bag liners, upcycled clothing accents, and art.” Lucy McGown speaks about herself and her work as "Hi, my name is Lucy McGown. I’ve lived on Lopez Island for the past 7 years and I’m going into 12th grade here at Lopez Island High School. I’m excited to be a Maker in Residence and I will be making small scenes in tin cans (pocket fairy houses), and recycled fabric pleated skirts while I am here.” The combination of their work has elements of whimsy, earthy connection, magic, upcycled genius, beautiful repurposing and gorgeous artistry. The exhibition runs Friday August 6 from 5-8 pm to the next day, Saturday August 7 from 12 pm - 6 pm and coincides with the Chimera Gallery’s opening in hopes to create a mini art walk in the same corner of Lopez plaza. To learn more about the ReMakery: www.lopezsolidwaste.org/remakery.

Beginning August 13th, 2021, a 32 gallon can of garbage will be $10. Take It or Leave It and recycling remain free of charge. Why the fee increase? Unprecedented Growth in Garbage. Lopez Sold Waste Disposal District (LSWDD) has seen a dramatic rise in garbage at its drop-box facility. Lopez’s award-winning local facility handled over 295 tons of recyclable materials last year. Local drivers hauled off 760 tons of garbage on its District roll-off truck, a 7% increase over the previous year, and removed 137 tons of glass from the waste stream. Now LSWDD has gone from 239 tons of garbage in the first half-year in 2017 to 396 tons this half-year. Skagit’s mainland garbage fees on LSWDD have now increased 20%. LSWDD is no longer able to recycle paper on the mainland free of charge. Both San Juan and Orcas have charged for recycling but LSWDD has continued to opt for free recycling, including paper and glass. Additionally LSWDD created the Remakery so that more of Lopez’s cast-offs can be made into useable products and not go into the garbage. Take It or Leave It is still free for shopping and dropping. With more residents coming through the dump facility than ever before, LSWDD has opened the facility another reday a week. This has added additional trips to haul garbage to the mainland, along with higher ferry fares. LSWDD has hired more staff to keep the facility safe from accidents between pedestrians and other vehicles in a very crowded space. The tiny postage stamp of the Lopez Dump is a valued resource, and LSWDD is doing all it can to keep it open and available for ease of access to residents. The consequence of expanded service, additional staff, increased safety measures means that it costs LSWDD more to continue its unique and valued dump. Rather than increase the levy, LSWDD has decided to increase its can charge for the first time since LSWDD has been in operation. Beginning August 13th, 2021, a 32 gallon can of garbage will be $10. Take It or Leave It and recycling remain free of charge.

Did you miss the "ReMade on Lopez" Fashion at Vitas on June 26th, 2021 due to the heat? Don't worry, thanks to videographer Ken Kortge, we have the best of the show here for your viewing enjoyment! Don't miss our next Maker in Residence Art Show coming up Friday August 6, 5-8 pm, and Saturday 4-6 pm at the ReMakery!

The LSWDD reminds Lopezians that Take It or Leave It (TIOLI) is open for shopping on Fridays and Saturdays 11-4, and available for your donation drop-offs on Sundays and Mondays 11-3. The donation reservation system created during the pandemic has proven to be extremely valuable and is still highly encouraged for donations on Sundays and Mondays. Reservations help LSWDD not accept items that cannot be received or are garbage, which means better shopping! The hard working volunteers that make TIOLI possible thank you, as this new system is much more sustainable and helps volunteers keep TIOLI clean and organized. Reservations are extremely fast and easy to make online at www.lopezsolidwaste.org. Recently there have been complaints filed with the Sheriff’s Department and Public Works that free piles are appearing at intersections, which is considered illegal dumping. LSWDD had a one-day, one-time event with free piles during the height of the pandemic, but they have not been sanctioned since. LSWDD asks that residents please bring useable clean items that you no longer want to Take It or Leave It, keeping Lopez litter free.

LSWDD’s newest pilot project,The ReMakery, is lining up for a full weekend of arts and education around zero waste with art show opening “Precious to Permanent” on Friday, June 25th from 5-8 pm at the ReMakery and “ReMade on Lopez” a Showcase & Fashion Event at Vitas on Saturday, June 26th from 4-8 pm. The first exhibition titled “Precious to Permanent” is on Friday, June 25 from 5-8 pm at the ReMakery. This show features the first two makers to participate in the ReMakery’s new Maker in Residence Program, Suz O’Dell and Tam Paynter. Suz O’Dell is a metal clay jewelry artist. Metal Clay is a recycled product originally manufactured by Mitsubishi Material Corp and Aida Chemical Industries in Japan. These companies recycle and reclaim a variety of different metals. The silver and gold comes from many different recycled sources including film stock and negatives. During her residency, Suz also experimented with using metals reclaimed from LSWDD’s recycle plaza and TIOLI in her work and in her display. Tam Paynter worked for most of her career in IT at the Smithsonian Institute. She has been long wanting to create sculpture with mylar and monofilament that has movement. She has been exploring the issues of permanence and ubiquity of those materials in her new art installation titled “The World is Too Much With Us— Ghost Nets and Marine Debris” in this exhibition at the ReMakery. On Saturday, June 26th from 4-8 pm at Vitas, there will be a Showcase Fashion and Fundraising event titled “ReMade on Lopez” featuring all the items that have been remade since the opening of the ReMakery. ReMade items will be on sale and for silent auction from 4-6 pm and give guests a time to get some delicious Vitas food and drink as well as find a table and seating for the stage show. The stage show will be 6 pm- 7:30. Anyone familiar with LSWDD and SWAP history knows that these fashion shows are sell out events which promise innovative fashion, insider education about zero waste, textile reuse and recycling, and fun and surprises for the whole family. “ReMade on Lopez” will also feature many of the prototypes created at the ReMakery in a show filled with fun, humor, up to date information, and great inspiration to take home. The ReMakery is a new maker space on Lopez that offers drop in maker times, classes, workshops, monthly Repair Cafes every second Saturday, and the new Maker in Residence program. The goal of the ReMakery is to educate our community about the value of reduction, reuse, repair, and repurposing items locally to increase the local circular economy. The ReMakery provides Lopezians with space, tools and instruction to help transform materials that might have otherwise been exported off the island and to landfill, or far away recycling centers across the globe. The localization of reuse helps decrease green house gas emissions, creates potential revenue sources for local makers and entrepreneurs, and most importantly, continues to keep LSWDD’s Zero Waste Mission in the forefront of the minds of the community. For more information please go to www.lopezsolidwaste.org/remakery.

Household Hazardous Waste behind Public Works, next to LSWDD (aka the Dump) on Saturday, June 26 from 11 am - 2 pm.

The Repair Cafe is where you can bring in items that need simple repairs in four main categories: appliances, furniture, textiles/clothes, and jewelry. This event is to help get all those old, beloved items out of the corners of your house and closets and back into use! If your item needs a replacement part, please get that part and bring it with you. Simple fixes are what we do, not major rebuilds. There are thousands of Repair Cafes happening worldwide. If you want to learn more about the history and the movement, check out www.repaircafe.org If you are interested in volunteering for this event, or future Repair Cafes, contact nikytap@lopezsolidwaste.org El Repair Cafe es un lugar donde puede traer objetos que necesitan una reparación muy simple. Hay cuatro categorías principales: electrodomésticos, muebles, textiles/ropa, y joyería. ¡Este evento es para ayudar a sacar todos esos artículos viejos y amados de los rincones de sus casas y armarios y volver a usarlos! Si su artículo necesita una pieza de repuesto, consígala y tráigala. Lo que hacemos son arreglos simples, no grandes reconstrucciones. Hay miles de Repair Cafe en todo el mundo. Si desea obtener más información sobre la historia y el movimiento, visite www.repaircafe.org Si está interesado en ser voluntario para este evento o para futuros Repair Cafe, comuníquese con nikytap@lopezsolidwaste.org

When driving down Lopez roads, it is common to see a bearded man in a baseball hat alongside the road with a bag in hand picking up trash. If one didn’t know him or his story, he might just seem like a curiosity— not the incredible Zero Waste Hero that he is. That man is Mike Moore, and he has been performing this amazing community service of keeping our roadsides clean for many decades. He is receiving the first “Golden Grabbers” Zero Waste Hero Award on Saturday, April 24th at 10 am at the registration for the Great Islands Clean Up. Moore tells the story like this: “I have always been a hiker and when I came to Lopez I enjoyed walking Lopez Hill, Watmough and the Iceberg trails. Later I became a bus driver for the Lopez School and I began to notice the amount of trash on the roads, even the back roads where the students lived. So instead of hiking the trails I started walking the Island roads and picking up what I found. This was back in the days before aluminum, when you could find rusted beer cans made of metal, and there were even trash piles in the salal left there in pre-Dump days. Today much of the ancient trash is gone but you can always find more so (carefully) join us on the Great Islands Clean Up to leave a cleaner Island for the school kids to enjoy.” Mike Moore has recently turned 80, and Lopez Solid Waste Disposal District and the Lopez Trails Network have come together to honor him with a Lifetime Achievement Award, the Golden Grabbers Zero Waste Hero Award. “Grabbers” are a long pole with a grabber at the end used for litter collection, so it was a fitting gift that is also utilitarian. Moore has been part of the Great Islands Clean Up Leadership team since 2015, empowering all Lopezians to get in on the fun keeping our roads and beaches clean and tidy. This year, at the Spring Great Islands Clean Up scheduled for Saturday, April 24th, Mike will be presented with the first ever Golden Grabber Award at 10 am in the lot behind Public Works, just next to LSWDD aka the Dump. Due to Covid considerations, this year’s registration from 9- 10 am will be a drive through event, but folks are encouraged to sign the large thank you poster as they come through which will also be presented to Mike with his award. In addition, now when you see a bearded man collecting trash along the side of Lopez roads, you can smile and wave in thanks for his many years of work! Mike Moore is happy to accept this gift in the hopes that his actions will continue to inspire Lopezians to be good stewards of our lands and seas, and each do our part to make our island, and the world a cleaner place. Here are two short videos, one of the New Golden Grabbers Award and Mike's lifetime achievement award:https://youtu.be/XCdvOf9kpiQ The other of Mike receiving his award at the Spring Great Islands Clean Up, 2021: https://youtu.be/-QCxqniAIVY Both videos made my Ken Kortge, with great thanks from LSWDD and the Lopez Island Community.

ReMakery Grand Opening, Saturday, May 1 from 11 am - 4 pm Located in Lopez Plaza behind Holly B's Bakery, the ReMakery! 37 Weeks Point Way, Units #10 and #11. In January of 2021, the Department of Ecology announced that due to Covid, there were grant funds that needed to be spent by June 30, 2021. LSWDD applied for their Recycled Market Grant in January, and in February was awarded $50,000 to begin the ReMakery: a new maker space for transforming materials from the recycle plaza and TIOLI into new and usable goods. The ReMakery will be offering classes, workshops, Repair Cafes, Maker in Residence programs, and a host of other maker events. The ReMakery will have industrial sewing machines, sergers, regular sewing machines, 3D printers, jewelry making, leather working tools, electronics repair and tools, and soon a laser cutter, along with host of other useful tools to upcycle and transform materials. The goal of the ReMakery is to educate our community about the value of reduction, reuse, repair, and repurposing items locally to increase the local circular economy (see diagram below). It will provide the Lopez community with space, tools and instruction to help transform materialsthat might have otherwise been exported off the island and to landfill, or far away recycling centers across the globe. The localization of reuse helps decrease green house gas emissions, creates potential revenue sources for local makers and entrepreneurs, and most importantly, continues to keep LSWDD's Zero Waste Mission in the forefront of the minds of the community. Just to help put the need for the ReMakery into context, Pre-Covid, LSWDD was shipping off nearly 1,000 lbs per WEEK of textiles. This equates to nearly 50,000 lbs a year that go through the Goodwill industries, with many traveling to far away countries increasing emissions and green house gases which contribute to climate change. What if we could decrease just a small percentage of these textiles by remaking items locally? What are your ideas? You are welcome to get involved and continue to make our world more sustainable with a reduction in waste. For questions or ideas, or to volunteer to teach a class or create a zero waste item contact Nikyta at nikytap@lopezsolidwaste.org.