The Great Island Clean Up

Litter-Free by the Sea

Hey, everyone! It’s time for the 2014 Great Island Clean-Up… San Juan Island’s annual spring-cleaning!

When: Saturday, April 5th. 9:00 am – noon
Where: All island roadsides and beaches
Rain or shine!

Stillpoint School team of 2013 – Contributed photo

Last year, 200 islanders collected over 3600 pound of litter from approximately 45 miles of roads and several beach areas. And, our island really did look GREAT!

But sadly, our refuse continues to end up as litter. Thoughtless tossing of bottles, cans, food wrappers, or cigarette butts; accidental “blowing away” of debris from unsecured loads on boats and trucks; or deliberate dumping of tires, etc., all contribute to the need to make litter pick-up an ongoing effort.

Ravenhill Construction team

Multiple organizations – including San Juan County, the Town of Friday Harbor, San Juan Sanitation, island service clubs, the Chamber of Commerce and Friends of the San Juans – are collaborating to sponsor this year’s Great Island Clean-Up, a day when all able-bodied islanders are encouraged to help pick up the accumulated trash so that residents and visitors alike are treated to a litter-free island when warmer and sunnier weather beckons us all outdoors.

Please connect with your school, non-profit, service or neighborhood groups, family and friends and volunteer to help. To clean a road, contact David Dehlendorf at 378-1082 or email at :
dauffa [@] gmail [.] com; to clean a beach, contact Jana Marks at 378-2319 or:
jana [@] sanjuans [.] org. Orcas Island is getting their own Great Island Clean-Up going this year; their contact is Kira Bradshaw at 318-6041.

To help this effort: FREE pick-up bags will be available at the Chamber of Commerce office on Spring Street the week prior to the event. In addition, their office also has some grabbers and safety vests that participants are welcome to borrow.

Click here for more info and photos: 

Land Bank team at Third Lagoon

San Juan Sanitation will be picking up collected litter at the following locations: the closed lumber store on Spring St. across from the Friday Harbor Suites; the intersection of Roche Harbor Rd. and West Valley Rd.; the intersection of Mitchell Bay Rd. and West Side Rd.; the intersection of Beaverton Valley Rd. and Egg Lake Rd.; the intersection of Douglas Rd. and Bailer Hill Rd.; and the parking area at South Beach. Your collected litter must be at one of these locations before 1:30 pm on April 5.

The Soroptimists

If you want to work on a different date, you can drop off your collected litter at the transfer station on Sutton Rd. during its regular hours – it’s FREE! Just identify yourself as a litter-picker-upper.

If you are not picking up litter the morning of April 5 but are out and about in your car, please be cautious and keep an eye out for the safely of the clean-up crews; many of our roadsides lack shoulders and good sight lines.

Henry Island “finds”

Everyone is encouraged to pitch-in and clean around their neighborhoods and businesses, and help us be Litter Free by the Sea!

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