The US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has recognized Kitsap County employees for their waste reduction efforts with a Waste Wise Program Champion award for the third consecutive year. Marykay Voytilla, Resource Management and State Programs Unit Manager in the USEPA Region X Office of Waste and Chemicals Management, presented the award to the Kitsap County Board of Commissioners at their regular meeting on November 10.

Highlights of the County’s efforts include continued implementation of an ordinance, “Prevention of Waste in County Government”, which serves as the framework for the County departments’ efforts. Activities include annual waste reduction training, increased recycling at the Fairgrounds and Parks, and efforts to reduce paper usage throughout all County departments. Waste Wi$e Kitsap Coordinator, Vicki Bushnell notes that departments are urged to make double-sided copies, revise forms to use less paper, and avoid printing e-mails.

The county has implemented one of the EPA’s favorite model activities, the materials exchange program. Using e-mail, county employees donate used office supplies to other departments. The County has avoided nearly $6,000 in purchasing costs since the program’s inception in 1999.

“The Wa$te Exchange is simple to operate,” says Bushnell, “there’s no supply room to monitor, very little time spent on it, and a lot of opportunity to save money or obtain items otherwise not affordable to some departments.”

The County also saved $130,000 in disposal costs by recycling 381 tons of office paper; 414 tons of cardboard; tin, plastic, glass, and aluminum food and beverage containers; 67 tons of concrete, 836 tons of asphalt, aluminum road signs, packing peanuts, batteries, toner cartridges, tires, and fluorescent tubes.

Last year the Public Works Department tested an innovative use of recycled glass on Kitsap County roads by using crushed glass cullet as pipe bedding. This year, eighty-nine tons of glass cullet was used around the storm drainage system in the Salmonberry Road project, and 6375 tons of recycled crushed concrete was used for road base material.

One of the bonuses of the Waste Wise program is that each member’s representative assists in determining how their organization’s efforts are reducing greenhouse gases. In 2002, Kitsap County’s waste prevention and recycling program kept the equivalent of 531 cars off the road for one year, and was equal to the power consumption of 348 households.

Ongoing efforts will include even greater paper use reduction, increased use of recycled-content products, recycling old cell phones, and more usage of glass in road projects.

The new Kitsap County Administration Building, slated for construction next year, will feature energy and water conservation strategies. An engineered vegetated roof will reduce runoff, and a rainwater collection system will provide water for irrigation. The building will be oriented to minimize the amount of energy needed to cool it, and the insulation chosen will often exceed code requirements. “We’re a work in progress,” says Bushnell, who foresees that there will always be room for improvement as needs surface and new opportunities to reduce waste becomes available.

Waste Wise is a free and voluntary partnership program launched by the USEPA in 1994. Over thirteen hundred small and large businesses, nonprofit organizations, and agencies are Waste Wise Partners. Any business is eligible to become a partner and receive technical assistance to help prevent waste, increase recycling, and use environmentally preferred products. Waste Wise also provides recognition and sponsors the annual awards and training event, which takes place in Washington, D.C. Kitsap County is one of only 14 organizations to receive a Program Champion award this year.

More information is available by calling (360) 337-4678 or visiting www.epa.gov/wastewise.