Tattler Newsletter March 23, 2015 (Mar 23, 2015)

March 23, 2015

Opening:

President Brad opened the meeting and moved immediately into the opening song of “America the Beautiful,” led by Don Anderson.

Announcements:

LaConner Rotary Club will be at our meeting, Monday March 30th to sell their annual Tulips. The will sell for $5.00 for a bunch of 10.

There will be a new member breakfast next Monday at 7:00 a.m. at the newly-named “Chinuk” restaurant at the Lakeway Inn. Chuck Snyder will make a presentation on PETS (President Elect Training Seminar). All are welcome to attend; the meeting is not restricted to new members.

It is time to sign-up to attend RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards). If you have a candidate between the ages of 18-30 please contact Nathan Twining and Megan Stanfield for information. The dates are April 23rd to 26th, 2015 at a large, retreat acreage in Washington State off Mt. Baker Hwy. Our club has budgeted to send 3 students.

There will be a District Training Assembly on Saturday, April 11, in Surrey, B.C. See Sandee if you wish to attend.

The District Conference will be held at Tulalip Resort and Casino April 30 – May 3. Registration information is available on our club website.

If you wish to update your membership information or picture, see Sandee for an instruction sheet or give her the information.

Each board member has been tasked with contacting 14 or so members for a quick telephone survey regarding your participation in the club and how your membership can be made more meaningful.

Also each member should have received an e-mail survey from the District or Sandee. Please take a few minutes to respond when a board member calls and also complete the e-mail survey. Click Here for the Link if you did not receive it. Also let Sandee know if you did not receive the survey from her earlier.

Nathan Twining reported ever so briefly on Wacky Wickets. He and co-chair Pam Kiesner are exploring options for a date, location and pretty much all other details.

Joe Coons Tip: For those of you with Android smartphones (such as Samsung) Joe writes "there is a great app that will save you cell-phone-ringing fines. It's called "Silence Premium Do Not Disturb" and costs $2.99 from Google Play. Check it out!"

Guests of Rotarians:

Dave Blair introduced his son, John Blair, Rotarian from the Walla Walla Rotary Club with Dunham Cellars and son-in-law, Brian Merris, Central Washington University

Presentations:

Robin Halliday made a Service Fund Grant presentation of $400 for the Girls Go Tech program at Whatcom Community College. Girls Go Tech provides encouragement to girls in middle and high school to consider careers in technology by inviting the girls and their parents to a day at WCC where they learn about technology careers. Robin initially became acquainted with the program when she participated in a panel discussion several years ago. Kathy Hiyani-Brown accepted the award, which will help to pay for the lunch provided to the visiting girls and parents.

Bob Diehl gave an update on the boathouse project. He reported that the process began when Jon Sitkin started the permitting process three years ago. The boathouse is now complete and has tripled the capacity to store boats. Our club was a major donor to the cost of the project, which benefited from a great deal of donated labor and materials. Many of the graduates of the boys’ and girls’ programs have gone on to row at UW and other major college rowing programs. Bob expects to have an open house soon and will make sure that our members receive notice so they can attend.

Program:

Our speaker was Rodd Pemble of Sanitary Service Company in Bellingham. Rodd was been with SSC since the early 90’s, after beginning his career in Bellingham as a substitute kindergarten teacher at Silver Beach School.

He contrasted the two primary methods of recycling in use today – single stream (or comingling) vs. the method used by SSC which requires the householder or other customer to separate the recyclables into three categories: (1) newspaper; (2) other paper; and (3) cans and plastic. The single stream method requires no separation by the customer, so all materials are placed in the same receptacle.

There are two reasons that SSC adopted this method. First it keeps the customers involved in the recycling process, and second it dramatically decreases the waste material found in the recycled material. The ratio of waste or unusable material is less than 1% for SSC, versus 9-25% for the single stream method.

Rodd then described their Food Plus program, which is a composting process for food products and other organic materials. The composting site is in a played-out gravel mine in the County. There are no odor complaints from the neighbors because the composting materials are covered in Gortex, which allows water vapor to escape but not odor molecules.

The premier of China recently decreed that China would no longer accept recycled newsprint which contains more than 1% waste. SSC recycled newsprint continues to be warmly accepted in Shanghai, while the newsprint of the single stream adherents sits idle in warehouses.

Rodd said that he is available to provide waste consultations to businesses and that he always is able to save money for the business. While the businesses continue to pay SSC to haul away their recyclables, the rate is substantially below what the businesses would pay to have the materials hauled as garbage.

During the question session, Rodd was asked to describe the customers for recycled materials. He mentioned a few examples:
Newsprint goes to Wenatchee where it is made into fruit trays or it goes to China to be recycled into newsprint, which may then return to be used by local newspapers. Newsprint can be recycled about five times in this fashion before the fibers break down to the point where they are unusable.
Aluminum goes to Mussel Shoals, Alabama where it is recycled into aluminum cans at a facility owned by Anheuser Busch.
Steel goes to Seattle and may come back to Whatcom County as rebar.
Batteries are currently not recyclable. Those containing mercury, such as batteries for hearing aids and cameras should be taken to the Whatcom County Toxic Disposal Center. The reason that mercury batteries should not be included in the regular garbage collection is that this material goes to landfills, of which there are two kinds: those that have leaked; and those that will leak. Other household batteries may be placed in the garbage.

The meeting closed with the drawing of the lucky number, which was nowhere near this reporter’s number.

Speakers

Apr 20, 2015
Andra Watkins - Author
"My 444-Mile Walk of the Natchez Trace"

Apr 27, 2015
Greg Baker - Bellingham Public Schools Super
"Early Childhood Education - A Smart Investment".

May 04, 2015
Rick Larson
TBD

May 11, 2015
Sheriff Bill Elfo
"Mental Health and the Criminal Justice System in Whatcom County"

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