In January of 1970 a small group of students from Western Washington State College, under the guidance of Dr. Robert H. Keller, set out to eliminate littering in the adjacent park of Sehome Hill. The efforts of the group did not achieve the desired results but it did inspire a drive to organize a state-wide initiative campaign with the goal of instituting a deposit system for all bottles and cans sold in the State of Washington. It was hoped that a legally mandated return to deposits on beverage containers might end casual littering and initiate citizen involvement in recycling.

Initiative 256 was born of this effort and represented a grassroots campaign to stimulate public awareness and provoke debate over environmental reform. In the end local beverage producers, the container industry, and grocery retailers rallied to defeat Initiative 256 by portraying it as a misguided idea which would eliminate jobs and increase the cost of living for every citizen throughout the state. By introducing a counter-initiative and hiring one of the most prestigious political advertising firms in Seattle at the time, opponents effectively maligned the Initiative 256 campaign in the eyes of voters. While Initiative 256 proponents were disheartened by this turn of events they felt victorious in their goal of elevating the visibility of environmental issues within the political system as well as stimulating citizen participation in state politics.