Dear Decatur Northwest Homeowners:

There are no recycling services on Decatur Island. For the past 20 years we have been burying glass and cardboard on Decatur NW property. Bob transports crushed aluminum cans to a recycling center on Lopez. All of these efforts have kept our garbage expenses to a minimum; and, although Bob or Jim use the tractor regularly to compact refuse, the dumpster has grown to the largest available size. Minimizing what goes into the dumpster is what keeps our garbage bill at current budget, even while usage of DNW increases.

We believe DNW homeowners can and want to do better than burying our recyclables or discarding them in the garbage dumpster. Estimates are $7.00 per home site per month additional dues to bring a recycling dumpster to DNW. Instead of raising dues to cover recycling, we are implementing the following guidelines for 2008:

“Pack It In, Pack It Out”

Waste Items	Removal
Cardboard Paper Plastic Bottles Tin Cans Glass	Take back home with you for recycling.
Aluminum Cans	Crush and place in recycling can by shop. Bob will transport to Lopez.
Food Scraps	Place in compost bin by shop.
Remaining Trash	Place in plastic dumpster by shop.*

These simple steps will keep our garbage bill to a minimum and allow our recyclable items to be re-used as they are designed. The board welcomes any comments on this practice. Thank you for giving this policy an opportunity to succeed during 2008.

Sincerely,

2008 DNW Board of Directors

*Please note efforts will be wasted and our garbage bill will rise if homeowners or guests simply dump all their waste items in the dumpster instead of recycling. As with many aspects of our HOA, we depend on each other to be good neighbors.