Recent Stories with tag waste

Aw...how can you stay mad at that view?

KING 5 isn't just "Get Jesse." They also go after big spenders on the government dime. A recent investigation called "Waste on the Water" (fire in the sky...whoops, that slipped out) found millions of dollars worth of missing cost-control oversight.

WSDOT, the no-cost-overruns people, have run Washington State Ferries for over half a century. In that time, they have regularly caught the public eye for wasting money. WSDOT Secretary Paula Hammond told KING 5 that she didn't know chief engineers were earning triple overtime for assigning themselves work during scheduled vacations, and earning up to $140 per hour. One engineer more than doubled his salary with overtime pay.

Google hits for "washington state ferries" and "reform"

What's the solution? KING says Secretary Hammond and possibly-still-Governor Gregoire are going to create a new staff position, a deputy ferries director. There'll be a "red flag" report, and an "expert panel," too. As you know, when it comes to changing an entrenched culture (Hammond's words), there's nothing like more managers, reports, and expert panels to turn things around. ... (more)

I like to keep the Christmas tree up until I have an epiphany sometime around January 6 ("Hey, this thing is brown and dead and shedding needles everywhere!"). But I realize that in our modern world things happen on a faster schedule. For many people, Christmas is over December 26, and that tree has got to go.

Happily for the environment, in Seattle and all throughout King County you can "tree-cycle," if you haven't flocked it and are not too lazy to remove tinsel and other ornamentation. King County guidelines look less strict than Seattle (they won't accept trees over eight feet). In Seattle, we're more precise about our Christmas tree recycling:

The tree must be less than 4 inches in diameter, and trimmed to 6 feet tall and 4 feet across. Clean trees can also be taken to the Transfer Station for free. If tree is flocked, it must be disposed of as garbage: Cut into pieces in your garbage can, or take to the Transfer Station.

Artificial trees, of course, are not included in the recycling program: "Artificial trees will last for six years in your home, but for centuries in a landfill."