Bell-Anderson and Associates, LLC, AMO: Recycling Olympics

On Tuesday, July 14, Bell-Anderson participated in the “Recycling Olympics,” an interactive game meant to raise public awareness for the Allied Waste and City of Kent recycling program. Property managers Dawn Hardley and Carrie Fjeld along with maintenance coordinator, Maria Garcia, made up Bell-Anderson’s team of expert recyclers known as “The Dream Green Team.” The other two teams, “The Green Queen and Her Teens” and the “Eco Challengers” were made up of families from the Kent area.

Pulling into the neighborhood in Kent in which the event took place, the team was shocked to find that they would be working with “real” garbage, straight out of the Allied Waste truck. Donning protective gloves and goggles (they decided against large plastic ponchos), team Bell-Anderson met the judge of the competition, Tom Watson, project manager for King County's recycling and environmental services. They would have an unspecified amount of time to move as much of the garbage pile to their team’s area as possible, and sort that into either a blue recycling can, a green yard waste bin or a green garbage bin. The team with the most recycling at the end, measured in lbs, would be declared the champions.

Team Bell-Anderson worked their magic and scraped out a very close victory, recycling over 100 lbs of what was previously garbage into their two recycling bins. When asked what their secret was, the gals said “Finding heavy things like phonebooks.” Also present at the event were several media organizations to spread the word about how easy recycling can be. Watch your local news tonight for your friendly neighborhood property managers in the blue shirts!

While winning is always great, we were amazed by what we learned today. First of all, it was astounding the amount of perfectly good recyclable material that had been thrown away by Kent residents, things as basic as cardboard boxes and tin cans. The Bell-anderson team was also amazed by all the materials that can be put in your yard waste bin, such as food scraps (no meat, fish, or dairy), food soiled paper and even paper egg cartons. They were also surprised to find that removing labels from recycled items is no longer necessary, and clean dry plastic bags are accepted as well.

Overall it was a great event! Thanks to the City of Kent and Allied Waste for inviting us to participate. For more information on what can and cannot be recycled (Allied Waste customers in Kent only) visit http://www.rabanco.com/collection/kent/residential/resi_what_to_recycle.aspx