Turning Trash Into Treasure: The 2 Million Cans Challenge with Jessica Alexanderson

Jessica Alexanderson, better known as Scuba Jess. Jess previously joined the show to talk about her love for scuba diving and ocean conservation. This time, she’s trying to collect two million aluminum cans to support schools nationwide.

Why Aluminum Cans?

Jessica’s 2 Million Cans Recycling Contest is a national effort to get schools involved in recycling. With 18 schools in 12 states participating, the goal is simple: who can collect the most cans?

Many people don’t realize how valuable aluminum is. Unlike plastic, aluminum is infinitely recyclable and can be turned into a new can in  60 to 90 days. The schools in the contest partner with local scrapyards, which provide collection bins and pay schools for their cans. That money then goes directly into funding school projects, like:

• A new playground for a school in West Virginia

• Gym bleachers for a school in Alabama

• A school lunch fund for a school in Texas

It’s a win-win—kids learn about recycling, communities get involved, and schools receive much-needed funds.

How Washingtonians Can Help

If you’re in the Puget Sound area, you can contribute to the cause by dropping off aluminum cans at:

• Sherwood Forest Elementary 16411 NE 24th St. Bellevue, WA

• Radius Recycling 23711 63rd Ave SE Woodinville, WA 98072

• Radius Recycling 1902 Marine View Drive Tacoma, WA 98422

If you mention the 2 Million Cans Recycling Contest, your cans will be added to the school’s collection total.

The Journey to Two Million Cans

Jessica has done this before. Last year, her first contest collected 1.3 million cans, with just eight schools participating. This year, she’s doubling with more schools, bigger goals, and even significant sponsorships.

The Can Manufacturers Institute, based in Washington, D.C., is backing the initiative, connecting schools with aluminum producers and scrapyards. Jessica also got support from NASCAR, where her book, The Girl Who Recycled 1 Million Cans, was featured on the hood of a race car.

Her advocacy has even reached the Smithsonian, where her book was recently showcased at a sustainability event.

The Reality of Recycling

Recycling aluminum is one of the easiest ways to help the environment. Yet, the U.S. only recycles about 43% of aluminum cans. Some states do far worse—West Virginia, for example, only recycles 6% of its cans.

Jessica is trying to change that. By making recycling fun and competitive, she’s getting entire communities involved. Kids become the “recycling police,” reminding parents and friends to never throw a can in the trash.

As she explains, everyone can save, and the need for new mining and conserving energy and resources is reduced. Creating a new aluminum can from recycled metal uses 95% less energy than making one from raw materials.

From Scuba Diving to Scrap Yards

When she’s not collecting cans, Jessica is scuba diving in Puget Sound, pulling up all kinds of underwater debris. Recently, she recovered 36 shoes, golf balls, forks, knives, and even vaping devices, which contain dangerous lithium batteries.

She also witnesses the beauty of marine life, including baby octopus, squid, and kelp greenling fish hatching in local waters. Her passion for conservation extends from the ocean floor to scrapyards, where she’s fascinated by the process of turning discarded metals into new products.

Breaking News: A Major Partnership

Jessica announced an exciting new collaboration: On March 18, the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team will donate all aluminum cans and cups from their game to her recycling contest. She’ll be at the game, reading to kids and spreading awareness.

Now, she’s hoping to bring Washington sports teams on board. Could the Seattle Mariners or the Kraken be next?

How to Get Involved

The 2 Million Cans Recycling Contest runs through April 30. After that, the winners will be announced, and Jessica hopes to expand the initiative even further. She’s launching a nonprofit organization, Recycling Society, to bring the program to more schools.

Jessica wants to hear from you if you’re a teacher, school administrator, or community member who wants to start a can drive at your local school!

Final Thoughts

Recycling is more than tossing items into a bin—it’s about creating a sustainable future. We can help schools, support communities, and reduce waste with little effort.

So, save those cans if you drink soda, beer, or sparkling water. Please drop them off at a collection site and help turn trash into treasure for schools nationwide.

For more information, visit RecyclingIsLikeMagic.com and listen to the full episode of Exploring Washington State to hear Jessica’s inspiring story.

Jessica Alexanderson 2 Million Cans Recycling Challenge Episode Transcript

Hello, friends, and welcome to the Exploring Washington State podcast. My name is Scott Cowan, and I’m the host of the show. Each episode, I have a conversation with an interesting guest who is living in or from Washington State. These are casual conversations with real and interesting people. I think you’re gonna like the show. So let’s jump right in with today’s guest. I’m sitting down today with Jessica Alexanderson. Otherwise, as I know her, Scuba Jess.

Scott Cowan [00:00:30]:

But today, we had her on before we talked scuba diving, a little bit of recycling. So today, we’re gonna flip the script. It’s gonna be recycling and maybe a little scuba diving. So, Jessica, welcome.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:00:41]:

Thank you. Thank you so much, Scott, for having me and to all your amazing listeners. I am happy to be here. Greetings from Bellevue, Washington. I need your help. I need everybody’s help in the state of Washington. That’s why I’m here. So I am here to beg you all for your empty aluminum cans.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:00:58]:

So if you have anybody in your life that drinks a lot of Diet Coke, a lot of LaCroix, a beer beer cans, any any kind of aluminum cans, we want them, for our local elementary school here in Bellevue, Washington. So Why

Scott Cowan [00:01:11]:

don’t you tell us a little bit more about this? Because it’s not just Bellevue. It’s it’s nationwide.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:01:15]:

Yes. I am hosting a nationwide aluminum can recycling contest called the two million cans recycling contest, and I currently have 18 schools all across The US competing to see which school can recycle the most cans. They actually started up in October, and the contest runs through April. And I, I focus mostly on the lowest recycling states in the country, which pretty much the whole country. The US average is 43% of aluminum cans, but I I picked, pretty much the lowest state. So West Virginia is the worst in The entire US daily cycle, 6% of, cans in West Virginia. And, they’re actually currently in first place in my contest, so it’s pretty amazing to see to see this, progress. And, if you make it I feel like if you make it a really fun game, little kids wanna help and give them the the tools to do it, they can they can do it.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:02:07]:

So I have West Virginia. I have Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Kentucky, and then I have the one school up here in, Bellevue, Washington for Pacific Northwest. So

Scott Cowan [00:02:22]:

Which is where you’re based out of. So that’s that’s they gotta have one in the hometown area. Okay. 2,000,000 cans. What’s gonna happen with those cans when they’re once they’ve been gathered? What what what what’s next?

Jessica Alexanderson [00:02:36]:

Yes. So, I actually team up the elementary schools with the the local scrapyard, the closest scrapyard in town that agrees to let them borrow a bin. And the schools keep a % of the money from the cans they recycle. So not a lot of people know this these days. I don’t know why this knowledge got lost somewhere, but aluminum actually has value. It’s made out of metal, and it’s % recyclable. And so the math that we do is 35 cans per pound. So the schools don’t actually have to individually count every single can.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:03:03]:

Some classrooms do count it classrooms do count it for fun math projects, but, basically, they fill up the bin when it’s full. The scrapyard comes, takes it away, and they weigh the cans, and then they pay the school directly for the cans. And so I asked all of my scrapyards for a minimum of 50¢ a pound. If they wanna pay higher, that’s great, because the aluminum prices fluctuate all the time. But, basically, the math is 70 cans for a dollar. And so a % of that money goes to the schools, and then the schools use that can money for different things. So the school in West Virginia does in first place. They need a new playground.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:03:35]:

I guess their playground is not in good shape and and hasn’t been for years. And so they’ve been trying to fundraise for that, and so they’re using the can money. And so now everybody in, like, the whole pretty much all of West Virginia knows about this school, and they’re all saving cans and bringing them there. And then my school in Alabama, they haven’t had functioning bleachers in twenty years in their gym. And so they’re using the can money from aluminum cans to get new aluminum bleachers in the gym. So it’s kinda cool to see the full circle. Yeah. So What’s the

Scott Cowan [00:04:04]:

Bellevue school doing?

Jessica Alexanderson [00:04:06]:

A Bellevue? Mhmm. Bellevue actually hasn’t told me what they’re doing with the money yet. So I’m trying to figure out, I feel like if we could put out, like, into the community, like, what what they’re gonna their focus is for the money, then hopefully, like, it’ll pull on some heartstrings and people will save more cans. The school down in Waco, Texas, they’re using the money for the school lunch fund to help feed the hungry kids. So each school just kind of figures out, like, what where the best use is for it.

Scott Cowan [00:04:32]:

Alright. You’ve done this before, and you you you gathered a million cans.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:04:38]:

Yes. It was really actually pretty amazing. So I had the eight schools last year as my test run, and they recycled, 1,300,000 cans, and it’s just been fantastic. And so I have this amazing sponsor, Can Manufacturers Institute, based out of Washington, DC. They’re trade associate association, and they actually represent all of the largest aluminum can companies pretty much in the world, but for sure in The US. And so each school is kinda paired up with an aluminum sponsor, like, people actually make the cans or a scrapyard and and then, like, any kind of sponsors. But, yeah. So then those companies will actually go in and teach the kids about, like, how they actually make the cans out of the recycled cans.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:05:20]:

So the the kids are learning the whole circle, so it’s it’s been pretty amazing. So the aluminum companies want their cans back because it’s 95% less energy to make a can out of recycled aluminum rather than mining the bauxite out of the Earth again and starting over. So it’s, it’s a huge savings. It’s, like, one of the easiest ways to help our planet just by not throwing your can in a garbage or in the oceans or on the side of the road, but actually putting in a recycle bin. And then another really fun fact about aluminum cans is that they only take sixty to ninety days to become a new can. So as soon as you put it in the recycle bin, it gets turned into a new can really fast. They’re all melted down pretty much at Logan Aluminum in Kentucky. So, your cans go to the scrap yard, they get bailed, and then they get loaded into a truck or a train.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:06:06]:

They go to Kentucky, they get melted down, and then the whole process starts over again.

Scott Cowan [00:06:11]:

So we’re not like Alcoa. Uh-huh. They’re not recycling so back in the day Uh-huh. In Tacoma and here in Wenatchee, there was a, an Alcoa plant. Right? And they were making aluminum. So they’re not

Jessica Alexanderson [00:06:30]:

the company I’m working with now, Kaiser Aluminum, I think

Scott Cowan [00:06:33]:

they bought Alcoa or they’re

Jessica Alexanderson [00:06:35]:

a partner. I’m not really exactly sure how it all works. But, yeah, I’m working with Kaiser and, I guess they used to be Alcoa. Yeah. I don’t know if they actually have any melting facilities here in Washington state. I’m trying to figure that out still because I wanna go on a tour. But, I took a tour of Logan Aluminum, which makes, like, half the aluminum in the country, and they’re, outside of Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Scott Cowan [00:06:57]:

So in the nineties, I had to, service some of the Kaiser facilities. Yeah. You don’t wanna go there. They’re terrifying.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:07:08]:

Really? Oh, well

Scott Cowan [00:07:09]:

It’s just these huge molten cauldrons of of, you know, and they’re I don’t know. It was it was like apocalyptic looking in there and I was just Yeah. Anyway. Okay.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:07:21]:

I I’m I’m kinda like a I’m kinda like a total scrap geek now nerd. Like, I love wearing my hard hat. My steel toe boots. I’m like, put me in a work zone. Like, I wanna see how things are made, and I just love seeing those big machines and meeting the people that are actually running them. And, just the people that are making our aluminum cans are, like, some of the nicest, most amazing people, and they work so hard. There’s just actually so many robots and different things that go into making a can, that a lot of us probably never even think about. So,

Scott Cowan [00:07:46]:

so Another another aluminum canister I have for you is Yeah. Into that same era, Ball Uh-huh. Had a distribution center in Auburn. Oh, awesome. And they would stack. They stack them. Column pallets

Jessica Alexanderson [00:08:00]:

of Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:08:00]:

Aluminum cans. Like and I was in there one day and guy with a forklift knocked over the Oh, no. Empty aluminum cans make a lot of noise. They’re kinda crashing down. It was it was awful. Shoot.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:08:15]:

That’s weird.

Scott Cowan [00:08:15]:

I digress.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:08:16]:

No. I that’s awesome. I actually got to take a tour of the ball, facility in Indiana in Monticello when I, went to visit some of the schools there, and they make 9,000,000 cans every single day just in that one facility. And then they had them all stacked up too, like, on those pallets. Yeah. And they stuck them like so high. Like, it’s it’s like a mountain castle of cans. Like, it’s

Scott Cowan [00:08:36]:

so Imagine those

Jessica Alexanderson [00:08:37]:

coming down. I can’t even imagine. That’d be so scary. Like, that is like

Scott Cowan [00:08:41]:

raining cans. So this year, we’re trying to raise 2,000,000 cans.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:08:45]:

Yes.

Scott Cowan [00:08:46]:

And you have you have these schools. And we’re here to get the word out to Washingtonians that they can help.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:08:55]:

Yes.

Scott Cowan [00:08:56]:

Let’s get specific.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:08:57]:

Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:08:58]:

Where can they drop stuff off?

Jessica Alexanderson [00:08:59]:

So there’s three locations you can drop off. If you’re in anywhere near around Bellevue, you can drop them off directly at the elementary school, Sherwood Forest Elementary. They have a humongous, bin in their school parking lot from Radius Recycling, and it has a humongous sign on. It says aluminum cans only. It’s very hard to miss. Or if you are in Tacoma or Woodinville, Radius Recycling is the scrapyard that we, paired up the school with. So you can bring cans directly to either of those locations, and I can send out the address for those. But, if you just go there, they’ll weigh the cans and then usually, they’ll just pay you for the cans.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:09:33]:

But if you say, no. These are for Sherwood Forest Elementary for the two million cans recycling contest, they’ll add the cans to the school’s account. And so, yeah, it’s a a really fun way to help out the help out the kids, help out the community. And then also, if you wanna while you’re going there, take a box of wires or any other metal items, go cash those into and, have fun looking at all the machines.

Scott Cowan [00:09:56]:

How did you get started doing this?

Jessica Alexanderson [00:10:00]:

I got started doing this. So I was at my last job, Evergreen Shipping for fifteen years. So imports, exports, I shipped containers on big cargo ships all over the world. And one of my nicest customers that never yelled at me, which is very rare, Brad Rudover, he owns Detroit Scrap. So he’s a metal recycler. And he he grew up in a scrapyard family, and he learned it from a very young age to never throw metal in the garbage, which is, like, the total opposite of my childhood growing up in Utah where we would just, like, pay to go to the landfill. And so one day, I kind of called Brad out of the blue, and asked him if he was hiring. And long story short, he basically hired me to start a kids division of his company because he has two young daughters, Ellie and Lexi.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:10:38]:

They were three and six at the time, and he is a very creative guy. He’s a storyteller. He’s an author. And so we decided, to get our thirty year goal is to eliminate metal from the trash, and we’re gonna start with cans, and we’re gonna start by storytelling and writing kids’ books. And so we started, our first book is called The Girl Who Recycled 1,000,000 Cans. It’s now won some book awards. It’s been pretty amazing, and it’s Ellie, Brad’s daughter who loves, oh, unicorns. And so she wants to recycle a million cans so she could buy a unicorn, and she’s actually wearing a little Pearl Jam shirts.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:11:10]:

We’re here in Seattle, and Pearl Jam let us use our logo. So that was really awesome. And then, so I’m like, cool. Brad, this is great. A million cans, but what do you do with the cans? So he actually took me on my first ever trip to a scrapyard in Seattle called Seattle Iron. And I got to see the car shredder, which was amazing. And I got to take a tour of the scrapyard, and it’s actually like, it looks really scary from the outside, but once you go in, it’s, like, really pretty clean and organized. They have all the different metals separated.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:11:35]:

It’s really cool. They have the eddy current separating out the aluminum and big magnets coming down to get anything ferrous. So, I was like, okay. Well, this is great. Scrap yards are cool, but the problem is that a lot of people, either don’t know about a scrapyard or they’re busy. They don’t have time to go there. And so that’s why my idea was like, why don’t we bring scrapyards to elementary schools? Because usually people know where the school is in their town, and they can just drop their items off right at school, and then the schools keep the money. So it’s like a win win for everyone.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:12:05]:

And we just want to focus on one thing first, just cans, because everybody knows what a can is. And then the schools are getting, like, overrun with, like, big piles of other random metal items. So, just wanted to do, like, one item at a time, and then schools can have, like, a monthly calendar where they can pick other items for the kids to bring in. So, like, one month, they could do Christmas lights. One month, they could do USB chargers and headphones. Just another way to fundraise more money for the schools, and then all of the parents can kinda do some spring cleaning. So, yeah, that was my crazy idea, and it’s just kinda taken off. And, the really fun exciting update yesterday is that, there’s, like, kind of a recycling convention going on in Washington DC.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:12:43]:

And I just found out that, they ordered a bunch of my books and they were giving away at the Smithsonian yesterday. So Wow. That was really cool. And I got my friend text me a picture. And I I’ve never even been to the Smithsonian, but I’ve heard about it. And I’m like, that’s crazy that they have my books there. So

Scott Cowan [00:12:59]:

that’s That’s very cool.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:13:00]:

Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:13:00]:

That’s awesome.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:13:01]:

So thank you for, interviewing me and taking the time. So I wanna, I wanna expand the contest next year. So I’m starting up, a nonprofit called Recycling Society. It’s almost up and running. We can take donations now, but we can’t give out any tax receipts yet till the IRS approves us, which might take six to eight months. But I want to get donations, and I wanna expand my program to a hundred schools next year, and I would love to get more schools in Washington state. So if any listeners, are teachers, who think this would be a fun thing for their school, please reach out to me because I would love to expand to more schools in Washington state and then, obviously, all across The US. So if you have friends or relatives that are teachers in other states, if they can let let them know about my contest, the kids get free copies of my book, The Girl Resecks, 1,000,000 Cans.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:13:50]:

Usually, the second graders or third graders at the school get the free book. If I could get enough funding, I would love to give books to every single student at the school just because they’re all collecting cans. So I’d love to have them all get a little prize, and then they can take out home the books to read with friends and families. And, we want these kids to, like, have behavioral change to just recycle for several months and, like, just kinda build that up in in their minds. And then when they see, like, any of their friends or parents or grandparents or anybody else not recycling the cans, then these little kids are, like, the adorable little recycling army, and they’ll run out and they’ll and they’ll teach everybody, to never throw cans in the garbage.

Scott Cowan [00:14:25]:

They can yell at grandpa. Okay.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:14:28]:

So

Scott Cowan [00:14:28]:

What is the optimal school? Are we talking elementary, middle, or high school?

Jessica Alexanderson [00:14:32]:

Elementary school because the book’s pretty much based on, it’s pretty good for little kids, and we wanna teach them at a very young age and, like, build that up. So kinda like Smokey the Bear or the Dare Dare Child. Like, you learn that pretty young and then you remember it. But we love it when the high school kids or junior high get involved also and help collect cans around town, like, at football games or any sporting event and save them for the elementary school, or they can help, like, decorate posters to put around town. So love the whole community to come together, but, the contest is, yeah, for elementary and then any other schools in the area can help out. I have another really fun exciting announcements that I probably shouldn’t I don’t know when this is airing, but, I have an announcement for March 18. So

Scott Cowan [00:15:15]:

This will be out couple of days before. So Oh, okay. It’s breaking news.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:15:18]:

Okay. Breaking news. So the Pittsburgh penguin hockey team is having me come over for March 18, Global Sustainability Day, with my school, environmental charter school in Pittsburgh. Their sponsor, from Can Manufacturers Institute is PPG Paint, And so it’s actually the PPG Paint arena where the pin penguins play. And, they’re gonna donate all of the cans and aluminum cups from the stadium from that game to my school in Pittsburgh, and we’re gonna hold, like, a pep rally at the school. And the Pittsburgh penguin mascot, his name’s Iceberg, is gonna go to school with me, and we’re gonna read to the kids and teach them power cycling. So I’m really excited about that.

Scott Cowan [00:15:56]:

Now I

Jessica Alexanderson [00:15:56]:

wanna get, like, the Seattle Mariners on board and, like, come on, Seattle teams. We gotta do this with a Kraken or something.

Scott Cowan [00:16:02]:

I I would think you’d be able to accomplish that. I think so. I think I could

Jessica Alexanderson [00:16:06]:

do it. I just haven’t, had the brainpower yet for it. But maybe this week, I’ll call out the Mariners and be like, hey, guys. So if Pittsburgh Penguins are doing this, like, what’s Seattle gonna do? Like, let’s step up step it up. Because we have some amazing, venues and teams here. And so we gotta support our our local elementary school kids.

Scott Cowan [00:16:24]:

There there’s there’s lots of options I can think of. Yeah. I’m looking at a photo on your on the recyclingislikemagic.com website.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:16:30]:

Oh, okay.

Scott Cowan [00:16:32]:

Number 38. The car.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:16:38]:

Number 38.

Scott Cowan [00:16:39]:

The car.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:16:40]:

Oh, yes. The NASCAR. Yes. So, this was a really exciting thing that happened last year. So Brad, my business partner, his best friend, owns, a metal recycling, analyzing gun company called SCIAPS. So he’s, like, the super smart scientist guy, and he invented this gun that can I don’t know if he invented it, but, yeah, he started his company? They can scan, like, any piece of metal and tell you, like, the alloys and enter the grades of, like, how much nickel or how much aluminum or how much copper. It’s pretty cool. It’s very Star Trek like a like a tricorder.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:17:15]:

And, so his company is called Sciapps, and he also loves NASCAR. So he has his own NASCAR racing team. And so they put my book on the hood of the car at the Daytona five hundred and at the Talladega. And so I actually got to go to the Talladega race, in Alabama last year. And, I were I was working with the NASCAR sustainability team, and we were out there collecting cans from my school in Alabama. And, the race car driver, Maddie de Bendet de Bendetto. He came out before the race to the kids zone and read my book to the kids, The Girl Recycle Online Cans. And I actually brought, like, a blow up unicorn, pool floatie because at the end of my book, there’s a pool unicorn pool floaty.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:17:59]:

I won’t ruin the ending. But, he actually came out and sat on that and was reading to the kids. So it was amazing. And then, he came in eighth place at the race, and they interviewed him after, and he said he had magical unicorn power. So, that was probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever done in my life. I’ve never been really into NASCAR before and, just going there and seeing it live. Like, I got to be on pit row, like, right above where they changed the tires and everything, and it was, like, so amazing. And just, like, the the sounds, and they go so fast.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:18:29]:

Like, it’s the same like, you see it on TV, you’re like, yeah, that’s really fast. But, like, seeing in real life, it’s, like, it’s crazy. So, yeah, that was pretty pretty magical.

Scott Cowan [00:18:39]:

That’s that’s pretty cool.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:18:42]:

My old boss actually saw the car on TV, and he’s, like, really into NASCAR. And I haven’t talked to him for a few years, and he was, like, messaging me that night. He’s like, I think I just saw your book on a NASCAR. I’m like, yep. That was that was it. Like That’s awesome. Yeah. It was really it was really fun.

Scott Cowan [00:18:59]:

So what you’re doing is very cool. And, actually, I’m looking at the the photo now with the driver sitting on the unicorn. That’s funny. Okay. That’s actually hysterical. Isn’t it great?

Jessica Alexanderson [00:19:14]:

I couldn’t even believe I asked, like, this professional NASCAR driver to sit on my unicorn. And he said, yes. He’s the nicest guy. We might actually do a NASCAR recycling book. That’s, like, in our future goals. So to teach the kids that there’s actually aluminum in the NASCAR. So if you recycle your cans, it can actually be a car or a a race car one day.

Scott Cowan [00:19:34]:

That’s very cool. What about recycling do we need to know that we don’t know?

Jessica Alexanderson [00:19:44]:

I feel like people are very confused about recycling, especially when it comes to plastic. And so I say I don’t know if this answers the question really, but I my motto is really reduce as much as possible, reuse everything, like, always try to bring a reusable water bottle if you can. Don’t buy a plastic water bottle wrapped in more plastic. Like, that just makes me so sad. If you can use, like, a cool metal aluminum bottle, like, they make aluminum bottles with lids now. Use that instead as much as possible. And then when it dies, take it to your local scrapyard and cash it in. But I basically wanna teach the awareness that, instead of paying to recycle, like, on your curbside recycling, probably waste management’s gonna hate me for saying this, but save all your metal items, go to your neighbor’s houses, collect everybody’s metal, and maybe once a month or once a quarter, whenever your pile is big enough.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:20:30]:

Somebody that has a truck, go to the scrapyard and cash it all in and make money from recycling your metal instead of paying to recycle. Might as well make a flip flip it flip it around. But, yeah, just try to reduce as much as you can. I do clean up walks every day, and just the amount of litter I’m finding on the side of the road is, like, heartbreaking. Just so much single use plastic. Styrofoam’s, like, the worst invention of all time. Nobody knows what to do with it. And if you see a styro piece of styrofoam on the side of the road, like, if you’re able to pick it up without crashing and dying, obviously, safety first.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:20:59]:

Pick it up because if you come back the next day with good intentions of getting that piece of styrofoam, it’s too late. It’s been broken down into, like, 5,000,000 little pieces, and then you’ll be out there all day with a broom. So, basically, if you if you do wanna recycle your cans in curbside recycling and be a good human, they don’t want you to crush your cans for that. But if you’re gonna bring your cans directly to the scrap yard, they don’t care if you crush them or not. So if you wanna have your kids go outside and jump on the cans, or if you wanna just go out on your lunch break and get some energy out, go ahead, jump on them, crush them. So, yeah, that’s and, and then I think waste management, like the blue curbside recycling people, don’t want you to put any wires or Christmas lights in those bins. But they all have copper and aluminum, so don’t throw them away. Yeah.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:21:44]:

Take them to scrapyard, and they’ll pay for them by the pound. Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:21:51]:

So this contest ends in April?

Jessica Alexanderson [00:21:53]:

Yep. April 30. And then we’ll announce the winner probably the May because we have to let all the scrapyards pick up all the all the cans and weigh them and give me the totals.

Scott Cowan [00:22:02]:

K. So once again, where? In Bellevue?

Jessica Alexanderson [00:22:08]:

Yes. Bellevue Bellevue, Washington. So Sherwood Forest Elementary. They’re pretty near the Redmond border, actually. So, I can give you their address, actually, if that would be helpful. Let’s see here. Sherwood Forest. Sorry.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:22:24]:

It is 16411 Northeast 20 Fourth Street, Bellevue, Washington 98008. Very close to my dive shop, Silent World Diving. So if you’re a diver, there’s also a great dive shop near the school. And then, Radius Recycling is in Windville, near the Costco in Windville. And, their Tacoma location, that’s the big one. It’s down right near the Port Of Tacoma. So you can actually go to Radius Recycling and see all of my old evergreen ships right there at the port.

Scott Cowan [00:22:57]:

Alright. We’re gonna we’ll put this on. So Awesome. Gonna shift gears on you scuba diving because

Jessica Alexanderson [00:23:03]:

Oh, yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:23:03]:

You know, we had you on before. You you’re really into diving. I really am. You pull up a lot of debris.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:23:11]:

Yes.

Scott Cowan [00:23:12]:

So since we talked last, do you find anything interesting?

Jessica Alexanderson [00:23:15]:

Oh my gosh. Let’s see. So much stuff. The other day, we pulled out 36 shoes from the ocean just on one dive. And then a lot of the usual, like, the most common things, just so many golf balls, a lot of those floss sticks, like little tooth flossers, forks, spoons, knives, straws. I think I probably told you last time about the the teeth I found in the ocean. That was definitely the creepiest thing.

Scott Cowan [00:23:38]:

Oh, I feel like I saw

Jessica Alexanderson [00:23:39]:

I feel like I got something really weird the other day. I’m trying to remember what it was. I I’m always taking it out, taking pictures of it, and I look for, like, octopus or little crabs and stuff. So, if you wanna see my pictures, I post them on, like, Facebook and Instagram. But, trying to think of I got a fishing pole on my dive the other night. I I, I don’t know. I was just, like, getting some garbage and a little octopus came walking by, so that was that was fun. I’m trying to think of, like, what the weirdest thing was recently.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:24:08]:

I’ll think of it later up, probably, like, two in the morning. But, but, yeah, just so much mostly just plastic cans, bottles. Oh, the vapes, that’s the new thing late lately. Those little vape vape vaporizing machines. I don’t know what they are. I don’t smoke soap. But, they have lithium batteries inside, which is really terrible for the ocean, and they’re made of plastic. And I just keep seeing those everywhere lately.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:24:29]:

So if you vape, please don’t throw those in the ocean. Like, I know they’re causing a lot of fires actually at, like, waste facility places. Like, that’s worth the trash and waste management is having a lot of fires lately because those little vape machines start on fire, so they’re actually really scary. But, yeah, that’s probably the newest addition, and I I just feel like maybe they’re more common now, and so they’re ending up in the ocean more because I didn’t used to see them, like, ten years ago.

Scott Cowan [00:24:53]:

K. Been on his great dose.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:24:57]:

Oh, yes. Okay. So this is the year of hatching adorable hatching sea creatures. So started off the new year with a bang with a baby giant Pacific octopus hatching at Redondo Beach, which is amazing because that’s, like, our number one dive site that we usually go to. And I’ve seen this that was my fifth time seeing octopus hatch. So I’ve seen them at, 3 Tree Point Burien, Cove 2 or Alki Beach in West Seattle. And then I saw them in Gig Harbor at Sunrise and Sun Rock in the, Hood Canal, and then this now at Redondo Beach. And so, this one, it’s really sad because the mom usually dies right when the octopus hatch.

Scott Cowan [00:25:36]:

Yeah.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:25:36]:

But she actually we named her Olive. We saw her right when she moved into the den, and we watched her take care of her eggs for, like, seven months while she slowly starved to death. It was so sad. But she was such a great mom, but she actually died, before all of the eggs had hatched. And so, Eric and I have learned over time that if you see eggs and the mom isn’t there, if you actually aerate the eggs and, like, blow water with your hand onto the eggs, they’ll hatch if they’re ready. So we actually hatched our own babies. Oh. So that was really great.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:26:03]:

And then, like, the next day, I went to West Seattle because I have some friends visiting from California, and I was showing them around. They wanna see some stubby squids, which are cute. And then I went over to check on the fish eggs that I have been watching for a couple weeks, kelp greenling eggs. And I did the same thing. I kinda aerated them, and all of these little baby fish just burst out of the eggs like fireworks, and they’re, like, bright blue and really colorful. And then last week, we had baby squid hatching. And so we actually saw the squid mating event a couple months ago, like, hundreds of squids that are about, I don’t know, like, a foot long, market squids. They were, like, mating and swarming and and laying these big egg capsules.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:26:42]:

They’re, like, big white egg capsules, and they hatch have, like, hundreds of little baby eggs inside, or baby squids inside those one capsule. And so, yeah, the other day, I looked at those, and I could see, like, the live balls inside. And, yeah, they were hatching too. So and the baby squid were the smallest. They they make the baby octopus look really big, which is insane because these are all, like, smaller than the size of grain of rice. Like, just really little microscopic little little guys. But I have a pretty good zoom lens on my camera. So when I get home, I can, like, zoom in and see them, and they all have different colors and textures.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:27:13]:

And, yeah,

Scott Cowan [00:27:14]:

it’s really fun. That’s cool.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:27:15]:

So, yeah, that was probably the the three best dives were all my hatching events this year. And I actually just got interviewed by the King five News, about the baby octopus hatching. I haven’t seen the footage yet, but they interviewed us at the Mast Aquarium. There’s, like, a free, really awesome aquarium as part of the High Line College at Redondo Beach, and, they have, like, this amazing touch tank and aquarium that is, open to the public ten to two on Saturday, so I definitely recommend going there. But they have a huge dock, and we usually swim out to the end of the pier and then drop down to dive right there. And, Russ from the aquarium is like, why don’t you just jump off the dock? And so that was my largest ever, like, fall into water. Like, usually, you just jump off, like, a dive boat and you’re, like, off maybe three feet. This is probably, like, an eight foot drop.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:27:59]:

And I was doing it while they were filming for the news, so I was, like, so nervous because I was like, what if I, like, belly flop or lose a fin or, like, something crazy? But I haven’t seen the footage yet, but I I think I did a good job. I didn’t like, everything seemed intact.

Scott Cowan [00:28:14]:

Awesome. That’s cool.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:28:15]:

So that was a lot of fun. So, thank you all for listening to me chat about our amazing sea creatures. Oh, one other sea creature that’s in season right now that I just I always have to mention it just because I’m obsessed with them and love them is the I think I already showed you this last time, but the Pacific spidey lumpsucker. So, our little flying golf balls, they’re they’re in season right now too. So we we go out lumpy hunting, photography style, and we’re always out there looking for the lumpies. So it’s a good time of year right now. The water is really clear. And, yeah, the sea creatures are out.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:28:44]:

So and they’re all asking for help. They’re all asking you to all never ever ever litter or if you see litter, please pick it up. Pick it up and then a lumpy will say thank you. Our giant Pacific octopus will, like, give you a hug.

Scott Cowan [00:28:56]:

Total topic shift. Yes. Are your earrings aluminum cans?

Jessica Alexanderson [00:28:59]:

Yes. I have can earrings. My friend sent me these, and I love to wear them when I read to the kids because they always just get a kick out of them. But now I’m like, oh, we’re talking about can stays. I have to wear my can earrings.

Scott Cowan [00:29:11]:

Got it. Got it. Okay. Well, you know the drill. I always ask three questions. I gotta ask them to you again.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:29:18]:

Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:29:19]:

Where’s a great place for coffee?

Jessica Alexanderson [00:29:21]:

My favorite place is it’s hard to choose because I have so many, but Bigfoot coffee, that’s number one. It’s a twenty four hour drive through coffee shop. And the one I usually frequent is in Issaquah. And I love to you can buy a bag, like, I think it’s a five pound five pound bag of coffee beans or maybe 10 pounds. I don’t know. It’s pretty huge. Anyways, I get that. Lasts me about a month.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:29:43]:

But, they’re caught they use, Delano’s coffee beans, which is a roaster down in Sumner. And, I just get the drip coffee with some cream, and it’s fantastic. They have a whole wide variety of flavorful coffee if you’re into that stuff, but, I’m just, I like to have, like, a chocolate chip cookie with my coffee, and that’s where I get the sugar from. So

Scott Cowan [00:30:02]:

Okay. Question number two. K. Where’s a great place for lunch?

Jessica Alexanderson [00:30:06]:

Oh, MG. My favorite question. Pickles Deli of Whidbey Island. You have to take the ferry from Mukilteo up to the island and go to Pickles Deli. Unfortunately, they’re closed on Sunday, so don’t go on Sunday. But, they have delicious sandwiches. My favorite is a spicy Italian, and I love to get that to go. Actually, we usually get there pretty early in the morning because we’re going diving, so we’ll get they have really good breakfast menu too.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:30:31]:

So I usually get the, Holy Toledo breakfast wrap and eat that in the car. And then when we get to Keystone and go diving, then we’ll bust out our our sandwich and eat on the beach. Okay. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:30:42]:

I don’t remember if I asked you this question before.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:30:45]:

Uh-huh.

Scott Cowan [00:30:45]:

So Okay. But you have to answer it. K. You have to give me a reason.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:30:49]:

Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:30:51]:

Cake or pie?

Jessica Alexanderson [00:30:53]:

Oh, pie. %. Yes. I am a big pie person. I love pie, and my favorite pie place is also on Whidbey Island. It’s called Whidbey Island Pie, And I call it the pie farm. But they it’s like an old farmhouse, and they have, like, a cheese shop, a wine shop, and a pie shop, and it’s amazing. And,

Scott Cowan [00:31:11]:

And what’s apple pie?

Jessica Alexanderson [00:31:12]:

Cherry pie and all the fruit pies. I love apple pie. But also, I’m really huge into pumpkin pie, and I wish pumpkin pie was, like, year round. But it’s limited edition. So

Scott Cowan [00:31:26]:

Alright.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:31:28]:

How about you? What’s your favorite? I didn’t even ask you any of these things.

Scott Cowan [00:31:32]:

Oh, yeah. See, coffee for me, I I’m keeping the Whidbey Island theme. Yeah. I am a huge fan of Island Time Coffee, which is Yes. On on Whidbey Island. And that’s that’s my go to coffee when I’m at home. Awesome. I drink their coffee.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:31:45]:

The Deception Pass. Right? Deception Pass blend?

Scott Cowan [00:31:48]:

Deception Pass blend. I love it. They have the Island Sunset. They have their Orchis Blend and then they have a Fairyland Blues. Oh.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:31:55]:

Yes.

Scott Cowan [00:31:56]:

All four of them are are quite quite good. I am really partial to the Island Sunset, which is their French roast.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:32:02]:

Oh, yum, I love French roast.

Scott Cowan [00:32:03]:

And I drink just black coffee.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:32:05]:

Nice.

Scott Cowan [00:32:07]:

When I’m out and about. Uh-huh. Probably my favorite coffee shop to go to is up in Twist.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:32:16]:

Oh, I know.

Scott Cowan [00:32:16]:

And it’s called Blue Star Coffee.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:32:18]:

Where’s Twist?

Scott Cowan [00:32:18]:

Is that by the word?

Jessica Alexanderson [00:32:20]:

Oh, Winthrop. Cool. Wow. Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:32:22]:

In the Methow Valley. I don’t get up there as often as I would like.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:32:25]:

Uh-huh.

Scott Cowan [00:32:26]:

But Blue Star Coffee is in twist and definitely write

Jessica Alexanderson [00:32:29]:

that down.

Scott Cowan [00:32:30]:

Definitely a solid solid twist.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:32:33]:

Cool. Okay. I wanna try it. That’s awesome.

Scott Cowan [00:32:35]:

Lunch, I can’t answer. I just don’t know anymore.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:32:38]:

There’s just too many too many good places. Have you been to Marination in West Seattle? Well, they have multiple locations around Seattle, but the West Seattle one’s the best because that’s the best view of the skyline.

Scott Cowan [00:32:48]:

I think I was there when they were a food truck.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:32:51]:

Oh, okay.

Scott Cowan [00:32:51]:

Back in the day.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:32:52]:

It’s a restaurant now right by where the water taxi leaves West Seattle.

Scott Cowan [00:32:55]:

I haven’t. I

Jessica Alexanderson [00:32:56]:

haven’t. It’s fantastic. It’s like Hawaiian fusion. Highly recommend it. That’s another one of my favorite go to places. Anytime anybody visits me, I’m like, we’re going to Marination, and then we’re gonna take the water taxi across to Pike Place.

Scott Cowan [00:33:08]:

Yeah. Yeah. For a cake or pie, no one says that. That’s fine. I would probably have to say pie, and I’m I’m super, you know, I really like apple pie.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:33:17]:

Yeah. Apple pie is fantastic.

Scott Cowan [00:33:18]:

And, so I I go pie and and apple. So there’s

Jessica Alexanderson [00:33:22]:

a bunch of And is there a pie shop that you love? No. No? Just like No.

Scott Cowan [00:33:26]:

There’s not. I

Jessica Alexanderson [00:33:27]:

local bakery?

Scott Cowan [00:33:29]:

No. For a guy who talks about Washington State all the time, I I don’t get out to

Jessica Alexanderson [00:33:33]:

places like that. I know. I will. I feel like it’s really hard to actually find bakeries nowadays, like, besides on Whidbey Island. Like, the I feel like the pies at QFC and Safeway are sad. Like, Costco usually has pretty good pies if if you have to get, like, from a store, but, I don’t know. I just feel like there’s not very many good bakeries around anymore, which is kinda sad.

Scott Cowan [00:33:51]:

There’s a there’s a a bakery cafe place up in Potrero’s on the Columbia. Oh. And, they’ve got good apple turnovers. I can speak to that. Yeah. That sounds good. And there’s a place called the Cowpath Bakery in Othello.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:34:10]:

Uh-huh. I gotta

Scott Cowan [00:34:12]:

write these places down. They have I have not had pie there. Oh. Their doughnuts are amazing.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:34:19]:

Oh, fantastic.

Scott Cowan [00:34:20]:

So, there you go. There’s some some Central Washington recommendations.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:34:23]:

For for doughnuts, do you go for, like, the Boston cream or, like, the old fashioned or sprinkles or what it what’s your donut go to?

Scott Cowan [00:34:29]:

I’m cake, you know, I’m cake donut fan. Like Yeah. No no no shade, but I’m not a fan of, like, Krispy Kreme donuts. The those airy things. That’s just not what I like. I like a

Jessica Alexanderson [00:34:37]:

Like a dense Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:34:39]:

Cake type donut.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:34:40]:

Me too. Totally right there with you.

Scott Cowan [00:34:41]:

In in Cowpath Bakery

Jessica Alexanderson [00:34:43]:

Uh-huh.

Scott Cowan [00:34:43]:

In Othello. Yeah. Okay. It’s

Jessica Alexanderson [00:34:45]:

all it. Oh my gosh. I gotta go there now just for the donuts, and probably the coffee is great too.

Scott Cowan [00:34:50]:

Coffee is quite fine too.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:34:52]:

Fantastic.

Scott Cowan [00:34:52]:

I’ve always had their, I always drink their cold brew there. It’s probably the best cold brew I’ve had in in the state in a long time. Oh, nice. Quite good.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:35:00]:

Good. I I feel like today’s a good cold brew day. It’s so nice out today. I’m just like blue skies. Let’s get some iced coffee.

Scott Cowan [00:35:08]:

So we got 12 states. We got 18 schools. Mhmm. We’re recycling a bunch of cans.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:35:14]:

Yeah. We are now up to 662,235 cans for this contest. And since I started my company in April of twenty twenty two, my grand total is 2,222,400 cans.

Scott Cowan [00:35:30]:

Right. So keep going.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:35:31]:

Yeah. We’re on we’re on the way to 3,000,000.

Scott Cowan [00:35:34]:

And so I urge everyone that’s listening. If you’re in if you’re in the Puget Sound and you can do this, please drop some cans off. Yes. Help the kids. Let’s recycle.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:35:44]:

Thank you so much. Yes. Thank you all for listening. Yeah. If you learn anything from this this epic chat with Scott, he’s so great. He’s just never throw cans away and pick up your litter and and go to Whidbey Island and have fun.

Scott Cowan [00:35:59]:

There you go. Well, Jessica, thanks so much.

Jessica Alexanderson [00:36:01]:

Yeah. Thank you. Have a great day. Oh, I always say live long and prosper at the end.

Scott Cowan [00:36:07]:

Hope you enjoyed the show. You can reach me on Twitter at Explore WA State. I’d love to hear your comments. You can also visit our website at Explorewashingtonstate.com. If you know anyone who would like the show, it’d be amazing if you’d share the show with them. This is the biggest way that we grow this show. Good old word-of-mouth. Glad you were here with me today, and I hope to have you listening to the next episode.

Scott Cowan [00:36:31]:

See you then.