Waste Wi$e Kitsap

Kitsap County’s award-winning in-house program, Waste Wi$e Kitsap, emphasizes waste reduction in all departments and recycling as the preferred way to manage waste in all County operations. Other objectives include purchasing environmentally preferred products and holding annual trainings in each department. The program is overseen by the Waste Wi$e Kitsap Coordinator, who meets with departmental coordinators each year to identify goals and activities to help them meet these objectives.

At the beginning of each calendar year, the Guidelines for Reducing Waste are presented to the Board of County Commissioners with a resolution to adopt the departmental goals. The guidelines include a brief report from each department about their progress toward the previous year’s goals.

Key Components

• Wa$te Exchange
  Employees email lists of surplus office supplies to an administrator. The list is then emailed to the entire Wa$te Exchange group so they can obtain free office supplies from other departments. A web-based Wa$te Exchange is under development for 2008.
• Employee Education
  Each department schedules an annual Waste Wi$e training to discuss waste reduction ideas and hear the latest on recycling and environmentally preferred products.
• Posters are available for every copy machine and break room, reminding employees to make double-sided copies and recycle food containers.
• Smart Tips appear in the Hot Stuff employee e-letter.
• The Waste Wi$e page on the County Intranet contains program information and announcements about upcoming coordinator workshops or changes in the program.
• Junk mail/Junk fax programs
  Incoming junk mail is tagged with a special yellow stickie reminding the employee to drop unwanted junk mail in a specially marked tray in their department.
  A postcard is sent by the administrator to the direct mailer to request an opt-out.
  Junk faxes are collected in departments and taken to a central location along with junk mail so the opt-out number can be called.

Links
Develop a guiding document for your waste reduction program. Waste Wi$e Kitsap’s waste reduction ordinance is available for local governments or large businesses. Prevention of Waste in County Government Ordinance 233-1999

Design a program for your company, organization, or agency. Contact Kitsap County’s Waste Wi$e Coordinator (Vicki Bushnell) at 360-337-4678 or email  for a site visit and/or assistance in implementing a waste reduction program to fit your needs.

Become a Partner in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Waste Wise program. This free, voluntary program provides a representative to help you determine what your company can do to reduce waste, and has an awards program for businesses and organizations of all types and sizes. Learn more at http://www.epa.gov/wastewise

Stop unwanted mail addressed to former employees by joining the Ecological Mail Coalition. There is no cost to add the names and business addresses of your former employees to this national database, which is used by direct mailers to clean up their mailing lists. Learn more at http://www.ecologicalmail.org

Learn how manufacturers are improving product design so the items you buy are easier to manage at the end of their useful life. Product Stewardship is an environmental management strategy that means whoever designs, produces, sells, or uses a product takes responsibility for minimizing the product's environmental impact throughout all stages of the products' life cycle. Learn more at the NW Product Stewardship Council website at http://www.productstewardship.net

Kitsap County Public Works
Solid Waste Division
(360) 337-5777 or (800) 825-4940
solidwaste@co.kitsap.wa.us