Orcas Island ExchangeZero Waste Mulch Available
True zero waste in practice! We have been taking the green waste you bring us, and grinding it up into mulch to re-use on the island! The result is a clean, fine mulch – the best…
New Glass Crusher is on its Way
A brand-new glass crusher will soon be on the road to Orcas from the Andela factory in upstate New York. These pictures show our crusher being made to order. Site prep has begun at the Orcas…
A Heartfelt Thanks to Our Volunteers
Our docents have done a super job this year working at the “Z-wall” to help customers understand how to correctly separate cardboard for recycling. Our customers get it and we have very little contamination in the cardboard bin. The docents…
New Glass Crusher on The Way
Thanks to your support over the last year, we have placed a $57,000 down payment on a new glass crushing system from Andela Products Company, of Richfield Springs, NY. Glass has little or no value as…
The Docents Are Back!
Last summer ORS began a recycling docent program that put volunteer recycling experts out on the “Z-Wall” at the Orcas Transfer Station. It was a huge success! Last year we introduced a cardboard pilot program that has…
ORS Separating Cardboard
Orcas Recycling Services has taken a major step in how we recycle and has been running a pilot program for separating cardboard from other recyclables. Cardboard represents 40 to 50 percent of the recycling stream on…
Great Islands Clean-up Spring 2021 Results
Thanks to EVERYONE who participated in this year’s Spring 2021 Great Islands Clean-up! Almost 5,500 pounds of litter was picked up and properly disposed of by 343 volunteers! See below for the full breakdown!
Film Inspires Plastic Free Living
On March 7th the Seaview Theater in Eastsound was packed for a screening of the beautifully-made but disturbing film “A Plastic Ocean”. Hosted by the Orcas Island Film Festival, The Exchange, and several other local groups and…
Where Does All the Food Waste Go?
Late last year when the nation-wide recycling crisis consumed the news, we decided to push forward on our Recycle 2.0 program, hoping it would advance the conversation about achieving a zero-waste community. Food waste has been…
Solving the Plastic Packaging Problem
Recycle 2.0 was launched with the purpose of continuing education on the current worldwide recycling challenges. Plastics are a big part of that issue. As long as we continue producing plastic products at the current rate,…
