FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Kitsap County Partnership Offers Waste Free Holidays Discounts

QUICK LINK:   Waste Free Holidays

By giving experiences, you can reduce waste and save money.

Kitsap County residents have the opportunity to purchase “experience” gifts at discounted prices of 15-50% at participating companies from November 15-December 31. These gifts include tickets for concerts and sporting events, and gift certificates for restaurant meals, bed & breakfast stays, spa treatments, massages and more. Details on all the offers and the participating partners are posted at www.wastefreeholidays.com.

“Kitsap County’s partnership with local businesses is part of a regional effort to celebrate experiences rather than accumulating more “stuff”---and it supports waste reduction in a big way,” says Colleen Minion-Pierce, Kitsap County’s Waste Free Holidays program coordinator. The program started ten years ago in King County and has been joined by Kitsap, Thurston, and Pierce Counties as a way to promote waste reduction and conservation.

"We’re encouraging shoppers to “think outside the box,” says Minion-Pierce, adding, “ Giving experiences rather than merchandise can be a welcome change from the mess and stress of traditional gift giving, and it's better for the environment by reducing waste.” With more than thirty local participating businesses and over a hundred more region-wide, a wide variety of gifts are available.

Here's how the program works: Each participating business offers an experience gift at a discount of 15% or more. Shoppers purchase the “experience gifts” at the discounted price from Nov. 15 to Dec. 31, 2006 by contacting the partners directly. Their contact information is available on the Waste Free Holidays website.

According to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, Americans generate an additional 6 million tons of waste between Thanksgiving and New Year's each year. This includes food waste, shopping bags, packaging, and wrapping.

The Waste Free Holidays program encourages residents to think about the environment while purchasing this holiday season. For more information, please visit www.wastefreeholidays.com, or contact Colleen Minion-Pierce at 360-337-4568 or CminionP@co.kitsap.wa.us.


Related Links:

• Making your holidays more ecological

• Don't make the holidays "the haulidays"

• Use-less-stuff.com

• Reducing Holiday Waste-EPA

• Simplify the Holidays
  
  

Kitsap County Public Works
The Open Line
(360) 337-5777 or (800) 825-4940
openline@co.kitsap.wa.us