San Juan County’s Solid Waste Division is offering to lend portable recycling set-ups to organizations that want to increase recycling at public events.

Since last year, the Division has provided recycling set-ups to Island Rec for use at Camp Eagle Rock, the K9 Carnival, the Children’s Festival, and Dunken at Sunken events; they were hauled over to Lopez Island for the first SJ Stewardship Summit; the County employees Union used them at last year’s picnic; the Friday Harbor Lions Club tried them out for their 4th of July festivities; SJ Island Chamber of Commerce increased recycling at the Summer Arts Festival; and the Animal Protection Society borrowed them for its “Wags to Riches” fundraising event.

This year visitors to the San Juan County Fair will be encouraged to recycle more and litter less at clearly-marked recycling stations set-up throughout the Fairgrounds. Empty aluminum cans, glass and plastic beverage containers, paper and cardboard can all be collected together (no liquids, food, or garbage) .

The containers are portable, easy to set-up (next to garbage cans), and are “see through” to allow users to see the results of their recycling efforts and to discourage contamination with non-recyclable trash items. The public education they offer is a tremendous opportunity for a community to amp up its recycling success, according to Helen Venada, of the County Solid Waste Division.

The clear recycling set-ups are available for any public event, call 370-0503. “You’ll save on disposal costs and help to conserve resources,” said Venada.