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January 17, 2006

Environmental Watch: Bellingham schools recycle food waste

BELLINGHAM — Three Bellingham elementary schools have started a month-long pilot food-composting program they say could save the school district 20 percent of its waste disposal cost, or the equivalent of $3.75 per student per school year.

The program is modeled after San Francisco's Food To Flowers! school lunch composting program. District officials say it is the only program in the state that includes milk cartons and delivers the material to a commercial composter.

Food scraps, milk cartons, napkins and other food-related paper products are collected. Sanitary Service, Inc. hauls the material to be composted at Green Earth Technologies in Lynden.

Brett Greenwood, the district's food service manager, said this is the most cost-effective way to reduce trash from school meals and is an educational opportunity for students.

The program is expected to divert between 50 and 60 percent of the trash at the three schools from the waste stream. Plans call for expanding it district-wide if it is a success.


'Green tide' study gets $688,000 grant

ANACORTES — Kathryn Van Alstyne, a marine scientist at Western Washington University's Shannon Point Marine Center, and Timothy Nelson, a professor at Seattle Pacific University, received $688,000 in research grants from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Science Foundation to study harmful algal blooms in coastal waters.

The research will look at the causes and effects of large blooms of green seaweeds, often called "green tides." These blooms can hurt marine communities, fisheries and aquaculture facilities.

A green tide in Penn Cove on Whidbey Island was thought to be responsible for a die-off of fish, shellfish and other marine invertebrates.

They will survey shorelines in Puget Sound and the Northwest Straits to determine the extent and timing of blooms, as well as the effects of toxins they produce. The studies will be conducted off Fidalgo and Whidbey islands as well as throughout the San Juan Islands.


SRFB OKs $3.4M for county habitat

SEATTLE — Salmon habitat projects in King County's four major watersheds received grants from the state Salmon Recovery Funding Board. The $3.4 million will go for eight projects.

Two projects in the Lake Washington/Cedar/Sammamish Watershed received $1.5 million and four projects in the Green/Duwamish and Central Puget Sound Watershed received $1 million. A project in the Snoqualmie Watershed received $320,000, and one in the White River Watershed in southern King County received $535,000.

The watersheds are home to Chinook salmon, listed as "threatened" under the federal Endangered Species Act. Sockeye and coho salmon, cutthroat trout and steelhead also depend on habitats in these watersheds.

The projects include:

  • Cedar River Belmondo Reach: Purchase 14 contiguous parcels along the Cedar River mainstem. The long range vision is to create a floodplain corridor of open space surrounding an unconfined river.

  • Middle Issaquah Creek conservation: Purchase undeveloped parcels along Issaquah Creek to protect 47 acres of mature forest, wetlands and streamside corridor.

  • Fenster levee setback and floodplain restoration in Auburn: Remove 700 feet of an unneeded levee and create a low vegetated bench and sloping beach to provide refuge for young salmon.

  • Mill Creek mouth restoration planning: Design a project to restore the confluence of Mill Creek and the Green River in Kent.

  • Raging River Preston Reach restoration/acquisition: Restore 7 acres of floodplain habitat by setting back 1,200 feet of levee and allowing the river to naturally meander.


    Cities offers perks for greener cars

    SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah's largest city has joined a small, but growing, list of municipalities nationwide that offer free parking as an incentive for people to buy fuel-efficient vehicles.

    Salt Lake City is now offering free metered parking to Utahns whose vehicles get 50 miles per gallon, have low emissions or are powered by an alternative fuel that could reduce the nation's dependency on foreign oil.

    Utah already offers an income tax credit of up to $3,000 for residents who buy clean fuel vehicles and some electric hybrids.

    Salt Lake City joins New Haven, Conn., Fresno, Calif., and Albuquerque, N.M., in the free parking meter program. Austin, Texas, also approved a green vehicle incentive that provides $100 in free parking.

    Commuters in Baltimore who use low emissions vehicles get a discount at city-owned garages.




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