Washington State Awards Lewis Environmental

The state's Environmental Excellence Award has been given to the Lewis County Solid Waste Utility for organizing a "re-use fair" that kept hundreds of items in productive use and out of the landfill.

The Department of Ecology (Ecology) presented the state's top environmental award this morning during a meeting of the county commissioners.

The swap-meet-style event encouraged county residents to turn in items they no longer used so others could use them. It was held in April at the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds.

"We were amazed at what came in," said Pat Campbell, who manages the county's solid-waste division.

There were Styrofoam bike helmets, a kitchen mat decorated with snowmen,rolls of contact paper, ice trays, table lamps, Christmas tree stands, paperback books, lawn mowers, furniture and lots of toys.

"You name it, it came in," said Campbell.

When more than one person wanted an item, such as a pair of skis or an exerciser, county employees staged an impromptu tie-breaker by picking a number between one and 10. No money changed hands. The goods were all free.

Although trash in Lewis County is sent to a huge landfill in Klickitat County, the re-use fair helps people do their part to keep products in use and out of the landfill.

The vast percentage of ecological damage is done before a product reaches the consumer, not afterwards, according to Laurie Davies, a manager with Ecology's solid waste program.

"That's why it is important to use products completely or pass them along to somebody else to use - this is called sustainable use of resources," said Davies. "Re-using products came naturally to many of our grandparents who lived through the Depression, but fewer people are doing it in today's use-and-toss society.

She said Lewis County's re-use fair provides a creative way to re-introduce people to the value of re-using products.

"The re-use fair supports the state's efforts to help people learn about sustainability, both for their own benefit and to help protect the environment," Davies said.

Ecology gives the Environmental Excellence Award to individuals, groups or organizations that go to extraordinary effort to protect, improve or clean up the environment.

Lewis County Solid Waste Utility says it plans to hold its second re-use fair on Oct. 11 at the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds. People can call 360-740-1452 for more information.