From our personal experience, if your pickup was missed this week you’ll be able to leave out double the amount next week.

For more information, visit WM’s website: http://www.wmnorthwest.com/weatherboard.html

REMINDER: Burien’s 13th annual ‘Clean Sweep’ will be held from 8 a.m. – 1 p.m. this coming Saturday, April 30th, and new this year will include a Scavenger Hunt for volunteers celebrating the new banner art by local students on SW 153rd Street.

This is a great opportunity to make a difference in the community by sweeping sidewalks, trimming shrubs, planting flowers, picking up trash and more. During last year’s Clean Sweep, more than 400 people removed 8.15 tons of garbage from our city’s streets, parks and commercial areas.

In return for volunteering, participants will receive a FREE breakfast, lunch and a chance to win prizes. Clean Sweep is presented by the city of Burien and the Discover Burien Association. Event sponsors are the law firm of Linn, Schisel & DeMarco, P.S., Prudential Northwest Realty Associates and Waste Management.

On the day of Clean Sweep, volunteers must register and sign releases at the Fire District No. 2 Station at 8th Ave SW and SW 151st Street in downtown Burien beginning at 8 a.m. Enjoy a continental breakfast during morning registration, including donations of bread from Grand Central Bakery, bagels from Panera Bread and coffee from Pacific Coffee Company. El Dorado West Retirement Community is contributing bottled water for thirsty volunteers.

Although participants will be provided with some cleanup materials, George recommends participants bring useful yard tools such as shovels, rakes, clippers and brooms. Linn, Schisel & DeMarco, P.S. is supplying a limited number of gloves, so volunteers might want to bring their own work gloves.

Businesses in Burien’s main downtown area may dispose of unwanted items by placing them in the alley or in front of the establishment before 9 a.m. April 30 for pickup. Please call Debra George at 206-941-7199 in advance to arrange for disposal. If items are not picked up by Noon, call George to let her know your location and she can arrange for pickup that day.

In cooperation with Burien’s Environmental Science Center, some Clean Sweep participants will be stenciling labels around storm drains as a reminder that storm water runoff drains are not waste dump zones.

This year, Clean Sweep will also include a new Scavenger Hunt, in which participants count the new decorative banners along SW 153rd Street, which feature artwork by Burien students (read our previous coverage and see photos of them here). The banners are a project of the City of Burien Arts Commission, which partnered with Discover Burien to have the banners printed and installed. Clean Sweep volunteers can pick up forms to enter the hunt at the firehouse and be entered into a raffle of prizes from businesses on SW 153rd.

As a thank you for their hard work, volunteers will be treated to a hotdog-style lunch at the firehouse contributed by The MARK Restaurant & Bar. Coffee is being donated by Pacific Coffee Company, juice by Highline Medical Center, hotdogs by Restaurant Depot and bread by Grand Central Bakery. Clean Sweep participants will also be entered into a drawing for door prizes generously donated by local businesses. A bicycle door prize is being contributed by Prudential.

Discover Burien is a nonprofit organization that works on the economic development, promotion and marketing of Burien.

For more information, call the Discover Burien office at 206-433-2882, Debra George at 206-941-7199 or go online to www.discoverburien.com.

A Business Recycling Collection Event is planned for Thursday, July 29th from 11am – 4pm at the Criminal Justice Training Center, located at 19010 First Ave South.

The event is sponsored by the cities of Burien, Des Moines and Normandy Park.

Here are the details:

WHAT: Business Recycling Collection Event.

WHEN: Thursday, July 29, 2010 11am – 4pm.

WHERE: WA State Criminal Justice Training Center, 19010 – 1st Ave South.

COST: There will be fees for computer monitors, TV sets, appliances.

INFO: More details available here, or contact Shanta Frantz at 206-938-8262.

From a flier:

Accepted Materials:

• Cardboard ~ non-waxed or coated, flattened CDs, Floppy Disks, Video Tapes ~ please remove paper or plastic covers
• Cellular Phones ~ phones, batteries, chargers, adapters
• Computers & Components ~ hard drives, monitors ($10 fee-cash only), keyboards, printers, mice.
• Plastics ~ grocery bags, stretch wrap, film, bubble wrap, shrink wrap, garment bags
• Scrap Metal ~ chairs, desks, file cabinets, refrigerators/freezers/cfc units ($25 fee-cash only), telephones, fax machines, type writers, adding machines, copiers, other ferrous and non-ferrous metals. Sealed tanks and drums and metals that are insulated, rubbercoated, contain chemicals, paint, or hazardous materials will not be accepted.
• Toner and Printer Cartridges
• TVSets~TV sets with 36-inch or smaller screens and encased in plastic ($20 fee-cash only). TV sets with larger than 36 inch screens, wood console, sets encased in wood, and big screen TV sets – ($25 fee-cash only).
• Projection TV sets ($30 fee-cash only).
• Wood Pallets and Clean, Untreated Scrap Wood

PLEASE NOTE: Fluorescent lights, tubes, bulbs, and incandescent lights will not be accepted.

Please visit the King County http://www.takeitbacknetwork.org/ for a drop location near you.

Questions? Call (206) 938-8262

Note: Only the types of materials listed above will be collected. No hazardous waste will be accepted. Visit www.lhwmp.org if you need assistance with hazardous materials disposal.

The Local Hazardous Waste Program is conducting a small business hazardous waste disposal pilot project for 2010. Qualifying small businesses can dispose of limited quantities of hazardous wastes at Seattle and King County household hazardous waste facilities. This pilot program is offered at no additional cost to eligible small quantity hazardous waste generators (SQGs) in King County. This is an excellent opportunity for SQG businesses to dispose of their stock pile of hazardous materials. Further information is available at www.lhwmp.org or contact the business waste line at 206-263-8899.

by Scott Schaefer

This weekend, some rude dude named “DEX” dumped a plastic bag containing two large books I didn’t ask for on my front walkway.

That’s right – the new white and yellow pages arrived on my doorstep totally unsolicited on Saturday (July 17). This surprised me, because as I recall, I actually opted out of receiving any more of them last year, since they’re about as useful to me as um, say, the printed version of The Seattle Times.

As you may have guessed, unlike Prince, we’re very bullish on the internet. We get at least 80% of our daily news from it, both on our laptop and iPhone (the other 20% is usually from NPR radio on KUOW). We look things up using Google (sometimes Bing just to try it out), and we have grown tiresome of printed phone books full of ads (even a refrigerator magnet for a plumber is glued to the cover!), as well as the primitive, thumb-staining search technique of having to scan through dozens of listings and ads to find what we’re looking for.

A bag of unsolicited phone books sit near another relic of the dying printed world, a newspaper box.

Like newspapers or bound encyclopedias, the obsolescence of phone books is inevitable in this new internet age. But considering that in the US alone, 97% of this $14 billion industry is earned from printed product alone, it’s obvious why these mammoth media dinosaurs want to try and hold on for as long as possible.

Hello? Is there any way that print can duplicate searching online and getting the results you need right away?

The answer is a resounding NO.

What’s worse, I went through this exercise last year and took the time to opt out of receiving these books, which are headed straight to the recycling bin as soon I can pry the fridge magnet ad off the cover and toss it in the garbage (eees nice DEX – not only did you deliver these unsolicited and against my wishes, now you’re making me create more landfill with your damned magnet ad, which is NOT recyclable!).

Receiving these hulking phone books seems to me to be a huge waste of resources – not only the paper (which, I will admit, appears to be printed on mostly recycled paper), but also the distribution costs, fuel, plastic bags (which they claim are made of “45% post-consumer recycled content,” which means that 55% is NOT recycled), not to mention the frustration of customers like me who ALREADY OPTED OUT LAST YEAR.

That’s why I’m tossing out the following idea (pun intended), free of charge, to councilmembers for the City of Burien:

Ban all unsolicited phone book deliveries in the city of Burien.

To opt out, you have to fill out a form and choose "0." But, based on our experience, just don't expect anything to happen.

If someone wants one, make it so they have to call the distributor to get it. But please, stop letting these wasteful folks dump their unsolicited, unusable litter on my property.

And isn’t there a fine for this kind of littering?

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go back to opting out of receiving these wasteful piles of dinosaur dung AGAIN – you can do the same here:

1. Go to http://selectyourdex.dexknows.com/SelectYourDex/searchByZipCodeAction.do and enter your zip code.
2. Select “Proceed to Select Your Dex.”
3. Enter your name and address.
4. Select “0″ next to each directory you wish not to receive.
5. Press “Submit” and you are allegedly done.
6. Bookmark this page so when you get another delivery next year, you can try again.

Another option is to dial 1-877-243-8339 to opt-out from DEX (and have the chance to yell at a human operator).

Call 1-800-929-3556 to opt-out of receiving Yellow Book directories.

To opt-out of the Verizon phone book, dial 1-800-555-4833.

Striking garbage workers decided Thursday to throw out their picket signs (at least for now) and return to their jobs as early as Friday morning, but since Burien’s trash pickup days are Mondays and Tuesdays no garbage had piled up here yet.

The Teamsters #174 union says that there’s been no resolution to the disagreement with Waste Management, but the garbage haulers are heading back to work to “prevent a public health crisis and to minimize service disruptions.”

Reports are that around 700 workers will be back on the job, but union leaders are not ruling out another strike.

A spokesman for the Teamsters says that plans are to re-open negotiations with Waste Management on Monday, April 26, to “see if they’re serious about fulfilling their legal obligations they have.”

Waste Management released a statement, saying that the new bargaining session will include a federal mediator. The company claims it delivered a letter to the union on Thursday, renewing an offer made last week to negotiate.

The company says their final offer to each driver was an annual pay and benefits package worth $110,000.

Here’s a video report from our friends at KING5.com:

Wednesday morning (April 21) at 10:30am, garbage hauling members of Teamsters #174 decided to finally haul out their pickets and strike against Waste Management.

The strike affects trash and yard waste pickup for about one million homes in King and Snohomish counties, including the Burien area, which has pickups on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Waste Management presented to the union what it called its “best, last, final offer,” and has so far refused to budge or resume negotiations with the Teamsters.

In early April, more than 1,600 job applicants applied to work as replacement drivers in case of a strike, but Waste Management has not yet announced whether it will use them to pick up trash while union drivers are on the picket lines.

To check the status of garbage pickup or service delays, WM has created a website here: www.wmnorthwest.com/servicedelays.html; as of Wednesday, it implied that it will continue “regular service” for customers with Thursday pickup:

Service Interruption for Wednesday Customers; Regular Service Expected Thursday.

Collection is not being provided for some King and Snohomish county customers today due to a strike announced at 10:30 this morning by Teamsters Local 174.

If your garbage, yard waste or recycling container was not emptied, please keep the uncollected material until your next regular collection day for each container, when the extra material will be collected at no extra charge.

We regret this inconvenience, and appreciate your cooperation.

We expect to resume regular collection on Thursday morning, April 22. However, please check this website for regular updates as negotiations proceed.

Thank you, Waste Management

Tips for Managing Extra Garbage & Recycling.

The Teamsters have also set up a website with news on the strike: www.seattletrashwatch.com, with the following statement:

Waste Management is the most profitable waste company in the U.S., provides trash collection services for King County and souther Snohomish Count. The company, however, is attempting to lock out its employees or force a strike.

Sanitation work is the fifth most dangerous job in the country. Although sanitation workers expose themselves daily to hazardous substances and perform backbreaking physical labor, the company is refusing to provide workers with the same health care protections provided by all other sate companies in our area.

When Waste Management locked out its workers in Oakland, California many residents did not get their trash picked up for one month.

Union garbage collectors who work for Allied Waste reached a tentative agreement in March, so anyone served by that company will not see any service interruptions.

Waste Management serves the Burien area, and, far as we know, the cityfolk here have no contingency plan. On the other hand, the City of Normandy Park’s leaders had a plan where, if Allied Waste workers went on strike, they would lease equipment back and have their own public works staff go out and collect garbage.

Here’s a video report on the strike from KING5.com:

As this story progresses, we’ll continue posting updates.

On Thursday morning (April 15), the Port of Seattle demonstrated a new environmental program at Sea-Tac Airport – a centralized off-aircraft recycling system they claim will reduce waste sent to landfills, improve ramp safety, decrease air emissions, and save more than $250,000 each year.

“This is a cost-effective and convenient recycling system that is coordinated by the airport in order to save money for every airline participating,” said Elizabeth Leavitt, director of Planning and Environmental Programs at Sea-Tac. “Our goal is to recycle 50% of our waste by 2014. This will take us another major step toward that effort.”

Six pairs of large capacity (30 cubic yards) computer-monitored compactors have been installed at convenient locations for all airlines to access. The larger compactors allow more collection, while computer-monitoring provides alerts when they are full, thus reducing the amount of pickup trips by 75%.

Previously, airlines coordinated their own trash pickups. The new system has resulted in 89 fewer pickups per month and could reduce pickups to as few as one or two per month at most locations. Reducing pickups also mean fewer vehicles on the ramp which increases safety, reduces air emissions and saves money.

In March alone, the beginning of the program has already seen an additional 12 tons of recycled trash picked up, equal to 9% of the airports total airfield waste.

The program includes financial incentives encouraging airlines to recycle. Each airline has a key card to access the system which records how much is deposited in separate compactors designated for trash or recycling. Using the recycling compactor is free of charge. Plus, credits are given for the ratio of recycling versus trash to reducing annual bills.

Currently 90% of Sea-Tac’s air traffic is participating in the program. As participation increases, savings are expected to rise as well.

“These new compactors not only help make recycling easier, they also help us track our progress in this effort,” said Jacqueline Drumheller, environmental projects manager for Horizon Air and Alaska Airlines. “Horizon began its recycling program right here at Sea-Tac in the mid-1980s, and the Port of Seattle has been a close partner in our commitment to reduce waste as much as possible,”

Within Washington State, about 75 percent of Horizon Air’s food and beverage service waste generated in flight is recycled, including coffee grounds. Horizon’s inflight recycling program prevents an estimated 300 tons of waste from being added to landfills each year.

Off-aircraft recycling adds another element to Sea-Tac Airport’s award-winning comprehensive recycling program which diverted more than 1,300 tons of recyclable or compostable material from landfill in 2009.

In addition, the Port of Seattle is expected to save more than $300,000 from an approved budget of $1.6 million for the project.

Photographer Francis Zera dropped by the airport demo, where he took these photos:

Click to Play Francis Zera’s Slideshow

We here at The B-Town Blog believe in helping our community, and that’s why we’re encouraging every one of our Readers to take part in this year’s Burien “Clean Sweep,” a fun, satisfying event which takes place on Saturday, April 24th from 8am – 1pm, beginning at Fire District #2 Station at 15100 8th Ave SW.

Last year over 400 people participated in removing 8.15 tons of garbage from Burien’s streets, parks and commercial areas, so let’s see if we can top that!

You can do whatever your heart (or body) desires (or allows), including:

• Picking up litter
• Planting flowers
• Trimming shrubs
• Pulling weeds
• Sweeping
• Raking
• And just cleaning in general!

Here are the details:

WHAT: Burien Clean Sweep

WHEN: Saturday, April 24th from 8am – 1pm

WHERE: Starts at Fire District #2 Station at 15100 8th Ave SW.

INFO: From the Discover Burien website:

Burien Clean Sweep is a city-wide clean-up morning.

Volunteers gather at 8:00 a.m. at the fire station and one or two other staging areas for coffee, juice, donuts, etc. They are then assigned to a team and given gloves, garbage bags, buckets, brooms and safety vests. Volunteers are dispatched to an area of the city to clean up trash.

At Noon the crews return to the fire station for a hot dog lunch and raffle with prizes donated by area businesses.

The event ends at 1:00 p.m.

Last year 8.15 tons of garbage were collected.

Volunteer registration is at Burien Fire Station #2 at 8 am – must be 18 or older (or have a parent sign for them).

Phone: 206-433-2882

Email: executivedirector@discoverburien.com

Download Event Poster

If you’re a business owner in the area, you may also be able to sponsor part of this event; according to the Discover Burien website:

Thank you for inquiring about sponsoring a Discover Burien Special Event in 2010. We offer a variety of events that reach a large demographic. We can custom build a sponsorship package to fit your company needs. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions.

Sponsorship Opportunities

[DISCLOSURE: Scott Schaefer, the Publisher/Editor of The B-Town Blog, is an active member of the Directors Guild of America, a film/video workers union based in Los Angeles, CA.]

On Sunday, April 11th, hundreds of supporters and garbage haulers rallied at the Teamsters Local #174 Union Hall in Tukwila to remind folks that their contract negotiations with Waste Management (WMI) have stalled, and that they should be prepared for service disruptions if the workers decide to strike.

On the other hand, Waste Management announced that they have the right to lockout workers, as they’re apparently preparing to hire replacements.

Far as we know, garbage service will not be disrupted this week in the Burien area, so leave your cans out as usual; to check WMI’s status of the strike, click here.

“Waste Management is spending millions of dollars to demonize its own employees,” said Longinue Shipp, a five-year WMI sanitation worker. “I bust my hump every day and if I get sick or get injured on the job, I would expect to have health care. We’re not asking for anything outrageous, we’re asking to be treated fairly.”

According to the Teamsters, after weeks of bargaining, WMI is seeking to eliminate retiree health care and refusing to provide the same employee health care protections provided by every major waste companies in the area.

Waste Management claims that’s because they’ve already made their “best and final offer” which they claim addresses the issues of wages, retirement and health care.

“Sanitation workers often can’t work past the age of 50,” said Tracey Thompson, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 117. “They break down from being exposed to hazardous materials like feces and medical waste and fatigue associated with performing backbreaking physical labor 11 hours a day. Why can’t the most profitable waste company in the world offer the same health care protections that their major competitors, Allied Waste and CleanScapes, do?”

Armed with yard signs that read “Waste Management Stop Trashing Our Neighborhood,” community members from across King County spent the afternoon setting up Neighborhood Trash Watches to support local sanitation workers and stop trash from pilling up in front of their houses.

“We won’t let Waste Management hold our community hostage,” said Paul Benz, a Lutheran minister. “These workers aren’t asking for anything outrageous. Its clear to us that Waste Management has an ulterior motive.”

WMI may be trying to provoke a strike or lockout in a move to break an agreement between areas cities and King County. The move would allow WMI to gain a foothold in the lucrative waste disposal/landfill market that is currently run almost exclusively by the county.

“Over the next two days we will release a website and an 800 number for King County residents and businesses who want to report trash pick-up problems and avoid service disruptions,” said Rick Hicks, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 174. “We are going to do everything we can to make sure Waste Management doesn’t trash its workers or our neighborhoods.”

If you’re inclined to show your support of your garbage haulers, you can sign up to assist here.

Here’s a video story on the latest courtesy KING-TV:

UPDATE 4/1/10: Our news partners at The Seattle Times update us that a 1am agreement Thursday morning has averted a garbage strike, at least for now.

Here’s what The Times said:

Jackie Lang, the spokeswoman for Waste Management, said early Thursday morning that the company and garbage collectors had agreed at about 1 a.m. to continue negotiating and, in the meantime, to avoid a work stoppage.

That means people should continue putting out their trash on scheduled days, because it’s work as usual for garbage collectors.

PREVIOUSLY (3/31/10):

Our news partners at The Seattle Times report that union negotiators reached a tentative agreement with Allied Waste, one of the two garbage collection companies whose labor agreements were set to expire at midnight Wednesday, March 31.

Unfortunately, Allied doesn’t serve Burien, which means that, pending a last-second deal, a garbage strike will begin at midnight here.

However, there will be no garbage strike in Normandy Park, since Allied is the provider there.

According to The Times:

Allied Waste Services, which provides trash collection for about 123,000 homes in King and Snohomish counties, confirmed Wednesday evening that a labor pact had been reached.

But the region’s biggest garbage company, Waste Management, which services more than 1 million customers, said its negotiations with 500 union garbage haulers have stalled, increasing the possibility of a garbage-collection strike for its customers across much of King and Snohomish counties starting Thursday.

Waste Management serves the Burien area, and, far as we know, the cityfolk here have no contingency plan. Normandy Park’s leaders had a plan where they would lease equipment back from Allied Waste, and, if necessary, have their own public works staff go out and collect garbage.

According to an email we received from Katherine Salinas of Waste Management:

“Waste Management collects from Burien residential customer on Mondays and Tuesdays. Therefore, we do not have any residential collection scheduled for Thursday or Friday.

Next week, we encourage customers to check our website www.wmnorthwest.com/burien for collection schedule updates.”

Also, according to WM’s strike-related portion of their website, here’s what Burien residents should do with their garbage:

Please put your garbage, recyclables and yardwaste at the curb as usual. If we do not pick up your material on Thursday up to twice as much material will be collected on your next regularly scheduled collection day for each container*.

We will provide priority collection for locations where public health is a high priority, such hospitals, nursing homes, day care facilities and grocery stores.

Please check our website daily for updates and changes as negotiations proceed.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we work towards resolution of this situation.

WM also says that their contingency plan is to bring in replacement workers to drive the routes of striking haulers. The company also placed help wanted ads for replacement workers in area newspapers and Craigslist on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Read the full story here.