Lautenbach Volunteers Celebrate Earth Day at San Juan Island’s Litter Clean-Up Event

Lautenbach staff members celebrated Earth Day weekend by volunteering at San Juan Island’s Annual Great Islands Clean-Up on Saturday, April 23rd.  We were blessed with fabulous weather, a fantastic turnout, and camaraderie with islanders of all ages.

 

Six of us from Lautenbach boated over on a perfect Spring morning to help participants get started (with donuts and coffee!), and in the afternoon we welcomed them back to the meet-up spot at the San Juan Island Brewery ($1 beers for litter picker-uppers!) to unload and weigh the garbage and recycling that they lifted from the landscape.

We quickly filled the dumpsters on hand with everything from car tires to furniture to plastic sheeting to the tiniest garbage they could pick up – nurdles!  (A nurdle is a very small pellet of plastic which serves as raw material in the manufacture of plastic products.  They are insidious!)  All together, volunteers collected about 1700 pounds of garbage from beaches and roadsides all over San Juan Island.  Lautenbach’s solid waste partner San Juan Sanitation hauled it all to the San Juan Transfer Station.

It was heartwarming to meet the families, from toddlers to grandparents, who mobilized their enthusiasm to keep their island beautiful and litter-free.  The sun shone on our outdoor after-party, kids and dogs played in the grass, and we all enjoyed local bluegrass band River Rye.  Many thanks to everyone who brought their energy to this lively event.

Lautenbach Recycling has a special connection with San Juan Island, having managed the San Juan Transfer Station since 2014. We partner with San Juan County, San Juan Sanitation, and the Town of Friday Harbor to provide materials management for island residents and businesses. We’re open to the public for self-haul recycling, garbage, and green yard waste.  Environmental and community health is the foundation of Lautenbach Recycling, and the Great Islands Clean-Up is a fun way for us to pitch in with our island neighbors.   We’re already looking forward to the next event!