In the March Local 20/20 column in the Port Townsend Leader, Tracy Grisman shares information about all of the R’s – Repair, restore, reuse, reduce, recycle, rethink, repurpose. The resources mentioned in the article can be found at the bottom.
By Tracy Grisman
I’ve been trying to stay positive about life these days. As things seem to be falling apart at the seams, I turn my attention towards the concepts of repair, restore, reuse, reduce, recycle, rethink, repurpose- all the R’s. My mind enters an era called the Repairocene: A time when common goals of healing, repairing, and restoring of our lands, our things, and our relationships are shared. I feel hopeful again and realize that those R’s continue to be some of the more pressing actions of our time.
What if we woke up one day and some things were cut in half- the amount of time spent working outside the home, how much stuff we made, how much stuff we bought- would we feel satisfied? Are we satisfied now?
As a society, how do we bow out and scale back on the continuous cycle of production and consumption without threatening someone’s food bowl, where the aftermath of this cycle (once known as “progress”) could be the demise of our species.
A phenomenon of epic proportions, just in our country of 330 million people, the average American toss out 7 pounds of deemed discards daily, and hopefully 2 pounds of that will be recycled. Humans are the only species that leave Gyre-normous mountains of waste which do not in some way nurture the planet again. We can even view the largest inactive, “Freshkills Landfill” located on Staten Island from space!
In Jefferson County, 2022, about 11 skilled men and women sporting fluorescent safety vests, hard hats, 2-way radios and steel toed boots choreographed 23,000 tons of waste through an algorithm beginning at the curbside to its final resting place at Roosevelt Regional Landfill, Roosevelt, WA, 313 Miles SE from here. AMAZING!
As we plan for a much needed, safer and smarter designed transfer station in Jefferson County, whether it be a new build or a redesign to what exists, are we of the collective mindset to turn the meaning of “progress” and “ambition” on its head and make a conscious effort to prioritize the R’s? In this last thirty years, have we learned bigger, and more is not better?
How do we, as a species with compassion, change our behaviors to a more sustainable lifestyle? If it was the age of the Repairocene, would we look to our communities to see what needs fixin’ and doin’?
Our R’s at work: Check out the Jefferson County Solid Waste website, bring your broken item to our next repair event, take a composting workshop, help pick up litter with JeffCo Trash Task Force, offer useable items to a neighbor, a person in need or post on Next Door, Buy Nothing, Craigslist, etc. Hopefully our transfer station will have a space where people can “Take it or Leave it” as Lopez Island offers, have a place like CHARM in Boulder, CO: A Waste Not Want not x 20! Or have a nonprofit store like ‘Reclaim it” in Portland, where items are rescued from their deaths off the dumping floor and sold at low prices. Volunteer or bring clean Styrofoam to the Styrocycler events, make art or support the A.I.R.E. program, attend a Local 20/20 Beyond Waste meeting, volunteer with the Gleaners, or work in a community garden. Download the “Moving it On” document and share your ideas with others. Come to the public meetings for the planning of the Transfer Station or post a comment on the website. Come to the Earth Day event at Fort Flagler Sunday, April, 21st focusing on alternatives to plastic, keep your eye out for the next SWAP meet at Finn River and don’t forget the R for Refuse!
For links to all these resources, see below.
Bio: Tracy Grisman serves on the SWAC (Solid Waste Advisory Committee) and the Local 20/20 Council, she is an active member of Local 20/20’s Beyond Waste group and leads the A.I.R.E. (Artist in Residence and Educational Program) at the Transfer Station.
List of Resources:
- For all kinds of information on waste: https://jeffersoncountysolidwaste.com/
- Jeffco Repair events https://ptmsc.org/jeffco-repair/
- Styrocyclers: www.facebook.com/PortTownsendStyrofoam/
- Transfer Station planning: jeffersoncountysolidwaste.com/solid-waste-facility-replacement-project
- Reclaim It store: https://www.reclaimitpdx.org/resources
- A.I.R.E. Program: aireatthetransferstation.com
- “Moving it On” Document https://jeffersoncountysolidwaste.com/reuse/
