Litter Free by the Sea

Volunteers show garbage collected at Cairn beach site, SJI National Historical Park – Contributed photo

Join the 2nd Annual Fall Great Islands Clean-Up Saturday, September 30th.

Please help clean-up all the summers accumulated refuse before winter closes in. Come out and volunteer for this all-islands greening event where volunteer’s pick-up litter from our public beaches and roadways.

During last year’s event, approximately 450 islanders collected almost 5000 pounds of litter. And things looked pretty spiffy! But sadly, sometimes 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.

All islanders are encouraged to help pick up the trash so that residents and visitors alike are treated to a litter-free island.

Please connect with your business, school, non-profit, service or neighborhood groups, family and friends and volunteer to help. Join a group that has already been formed, or organize a group of your own!

Want to help?   Get all the details by contacting your island’s organizers directly as listed below. Or just go out and clean around your neighborhood, school yard or favorite walking paths.

On San Juan Island: 10am-2pm

• For roadside clean-up, contact Catherine Kenney (360-378-3658 or [email protected])
• For beach clean-up, contact Jana Marks (360-378-2319 or [email protected])

On Orcas Island: 10am-2pm

• Come to the Eastsound Village Green on Saturday, September 30th at 10am to sign in. You will be given cleaning and safety supplies and be assigned an area of the island to cover. If you want to be a team leader or register a crew in advance, please email [email protected].Thanks for your participation! See the Exchange website for more info www.exchangeorcas.org.

On Lopez Island: 10am-2pm

• Meet outside Blossom Grocery at 10am on September 30^th to get your assignment. For more information contact either Mark Herrenkohl (360-370-0534 or [email protected]) or Nick Teague (360-468-3754 or [email protected]).

On Shaw Island:

• Contact Stephanie Buffum (472-0404 or [email protected])

Bags and gloves will be available at the San Juan County Public Works Dept. in Friday Harbor at 915 Spring Street during the week before the event, and on the other islands the day of the event at sign-in. Safety signage will be in place on all islands. Pick-up of collected litter will be at various places on each island; check with your island’s organizer for that information. If you are unable to make it to a collection site, each islands dump will take your collected litter – just tell them it is from the clean-up.

You can support the San Juan Update by doing business with our loyal advertisers, and by making a one-time contribution or a recurring donation.