Submitted by Lopez Solid Waste Disposal District.

Join your fellow islanders for the 2022 Fall Great Islands Clean-up on Saturday, September 24 between 10 a.m – 2 p.m. During this event, participants of all ages can sign-up to collect trash on a designated beach or road, and then bring their collected trash to the central meeting spot to be counted.

On Lopez Island, meet at 10 a.m. at the Lopez Village Park to pick up trash collection equipment and receive beach and roadway assignments. Coffee and goodies will be provided to fuel your efforts (bring your own coffee cup, please)! Participants on the South End can pick up vests and grabbers at the Southend Store. Bring your collected trash to Lopez Solid Waste (aka The Dump) and follow the signs for the GICU drop off area. If you’d like to be assigned a location ahead of time, contact Larissa at larissam@lopezsolidwaste.org.

“The Great Islands Clean-up is a great opportunity for our community to join together and address the global issue of plastic pollution,” says Katie Fleming, San Juan County’s Solid Waste Coordinator. “Every little bit helps – last spring, 173 miles of island roads and beaches were cleaned by 350 awesome volunteers.”

The Great Islands Clean Up is a bi-annual event held every spring and fall, coordinated by the County’s Department of Environmental Stewardship Solid Waste Program in cooperation with Orcas Recycling Services, Lautenbach Recycling, Lopez Solid Waste Disposal District, San Juan Sanitation, Friends of the San Juans, the Stewardship Network of the San Juans, and many other individual, business and service group volunteers. It is funded in part by the Washington State Department of Ecology.

Visit plasticfreesalishsea.org/events to see the details for Orcas, Shaw, and Lopez Islands. Tag your clean-up adventures on Facebook and Instagram with #GICU2022 or send them to katief@sanjuanco.com.