Virginia Recycling Association
Recycling Near Me

Recycling continues to struggle in Roanoke and statewide

Author: Margaret Eldridge

Article in The Roanoke Times December 12, 2020

 

 

From The Virginian-Pilot:

A few years ago when you tossed your cardboard boxes from Amazon into the recycling bin, there’s a good chance they eventually traveled thousands of miles and half a world away to China.

That changed early last year. China stopped taking most of those materials and the recycling industry entered a tailspin as the world’s largest market for recycled commodities all but closed. Prices plunged and with them, recyclers’ revenue.

In Virginia, as elsewhere, some businesses that haul or process our waste have gone bankrupt, closed or moved. Some cities have had to cancel their curbside recycling programs — meaning those materials are now going to the dump.

The commonwealth is working to recover. Hampton Roads, too, has had to adapt.

Read more of the article…..

 

 

From Recycling Today

https://www.recyclingtoday.com/article/virginia-recycling-association-award-winners/

VRA Awards honor waste reduction and recycling programs

Recycle Right Alexandria and Page County among the winners.

November 7, 2019
Posted by Kelly Maile

The Virginia Recycling Association (VRA) honored several waste reduction and recycling programs at its annual luncheon meeting Oct. 30 in Charlottesville.

Awards were given in three categories:

  • Show Me the Way–How do you explain recycling to your customers?
  • Lemonade–How have you made something wonderful from a bad situation?
  • Best in Show–How has your program made a difference in your community?

This year’s award winners were selected from nine nominations and represented the best of recycling innovation, education and community engagement from across Virginia, according to a VRA news release.

Recycle Right Alexandria, Show Me the Way award winner

Alexandria, Virginia, developed an online, interactive game that teaches children ages seven and up to properly sort their recyclables, yard waste and trash using city services. Players match discarded household items, including paint, food waste and aluminum cans, with the appropriate city service and build their own digital Alexandria park in the process.

After completing all five levels of the game, players can print out a certificate of achievement. Residents who snapped a picture of themselves with their certificate and shared it on social media were entered into a contest to win items to help them reduce and divert waste, including a reusable tote bag, reusable water bottle or a compost caddy.

Implementing this sorting game was also a short-term goal that was identified as part of the city’s newly adopted WasteSmart strategic plan. The sorting game provides the city analytics, including the number of game plays, number of completed games, number of certificates printed and a list of the most misunderstood materials.

The city found that one of the most misunderstood materials that was incorrectly sorted in the game was loose shredded paper. The analytics showed 33 percent of players thought this material could be recycled, when in fact, it should go into the trash bin. This type of data helps the city target specific outreach messages on contamination and how residents can recycle right in Alexandria.

Page County, Lemonade winner

Page County Solid Waste Department took a hard look at its recycling program when recycling markets began to deteriorate in 2018.

The department was spending $34,000 per year to deliver recyclables collected at four county drop-off locations to the nearest material recovery facility (MRF).

In 2018, staff decided to change the program from a small recycling program with large transportation costs to a large revenue generator with minimal costs. By purchasing and installing a used baler in their maintenance garage, the county was able to eliminate all transportation and delivery costs.

Since Page County started baling its own cardboard, commingled plastic, mixed paper and aluminum cans, the county increased the amount of materials recycled, reduced costs and increased revenue.

Goodwill of Central and Coastal Virginia, Best in Show winner

Goodwill, which was paying to have 250,000 pounds of books recycled each month, knew there was a better way to process and distribute such a large volume of books, and that there was value in the marketplace for these books.

In early 2017, Goodwill established a partnership with Henrico County public schools to supply books to students and families after seeing a news story requesting the donation of new and gently used books to support the school division’s new Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum Challenge in secondary schools.

Henrico County and Goodwill established a weekly opportunity for school personnel to visit the Goodwill headquarters and “dive for books.” School staff sort through thousands of books, selecting those that will be utilized.

This free program supplies a reliable source of books to the families in most need and to teachers who have limited budgets for books. As of September 2019, this initiative has placed 148,931 free books into the hands of teachers, librarians, students and families. This is the best kind of recycling result, VRA says.

Charlottesville, VA – November 5, 2019: Virginia Recycling Association (VRA) members expressed their shared priorities by approving five new policy statements at VRA’s annual meeting on October 30 in Charlottesville:

  • Supporting the Businesses Behind the Bin policy- acknowledges the economic value of recycling created by the many businesses that haul, sort and process recyclables and use these materials as feedstock to manufacture new products.
  • Materials Collection policy – supports recycling collection systems that optimize the value and utilization of recyclable materials as marketable commodities to be used as manufacturing feedstock.
  • Glass policy – recognizes glass as a perpetually recyclable commodity that requires the development of regional processing facilities and end markets for it to be successfully recycled in Virginia.
  • Electronic Waste Recycling policy – calls for an update to legislation to increase the safe disposal, recovery and recycling of electronics
  • Plastic Bags Policy – supports giving local government the authority to impose a ban or tax on certain plastic bags.

VRA works to inform the public of the importance of solid waste management by recycling as an essential part of our community infrastructure. Lack of funding, high levels of contamination, limited facilities for processing non-hazardous recyclable materials, and outdated legislation have placed many recycling programs and processing facilities in Virginia at risk of suspension or closure. Without appropriate regulation, public education, and economic development of domestic markets, millions of tons of recyclables will be thrown away in landfills, wasting resources that could fuel manufacturing. VRA will continue developing policies that address current issues with recycling.

VRA members are calling for a review and update of the Virginia Waste Management Act of (1986). Current legislation is outdated and does not provide adequate funding or incentives needed to support recycling infrastructure.  In addition, better coordination is needed to track recyclable material tonnages in the Commonwealth.  Instead, it lumps an industry that contributes $1.7 billion and over 8,000 jobs to the Virginia economy under the heading of “litter control.”  VRA wants to work with Virginia legislators to develop an effective, economic and sustainable statewide strategy for the management of recyclable materials.

Recycling is a commodity traded in the global market, just like soy beans or wheat. The U.S. used to sell over $6 billion of recyclable materials to China annually for use in manufacturing. However, since China banned certain imports of recyclable materials in early 2018, recycling processors have been searching for domestic markets. VRA members want to partner with stakeholders, such as state and local economic development offices, municipal governments, manufacturing associations, and recycling processors to encourage, stimulate, and support development and expansion of business opportunities for the processing and sale of the state’s recyclables for use as resource for domestic manufacturing.

Merely having a 25 percent recycling rate as a state requirement does not help our economy, our environment or our recycling programs succeed. Virginia needs economic development support to build recycling infrastructure; a coordinated, statewide outreach program to educate the public on the basics of recycling; and updated legislation that reflects the realities of recycling today, and clear messaging and information to help the public to better understand what to recycle, how to prepare it for recycling and where it needs to be taken to get it recycled correctly.

VRA members have the knowledge and desire to work with other stakeholders to implement these changes to move recycling from the bin to a thriving and sustainable resource in Virginia.  

Resourceful, Creative, Sustainable
Winning Ideas at Annual VRA Awards

Erica Carter (Awards Committee Chair), Jeff Blevins (Page County), Teresa Sweeney (VRA President), Helen Lee (City of Alexandria), Margaret Eldridge (VRA Executive Director), Russ Rainer (Goodwill of Central & Coastal Virginia) celebrate the 2019 VRA awards

Charlottesville, VA – November 7, 2019: The Virginia Recycling Association honored several exemplary waste reduction and recycling programs at its annual luncheon meeting on October 30, in Charlottesville.

Awards were given in three categories:

  • Show Me the Way – How do you explain recycling to your customers?
  • Lemonade – How have you made something wonderful from a bad situation?
  • Best in Show – How has your program made a difference in your community?

This year’s award winners were selected from 9 nominations and represented the best of recycling innovation, education, and community engagement from across Virginia.

Best in Show Winner, Goodwill of Central and Coastal Virginia

Goodwill was paying to have 250,000 pounds of books recycled each month, which was costing them money and seemed wasteful. They knew that there was a better way to process and distribute such a large volume of books and that there was value in the marketplace for these books.

In early 2017, Goodwill established a partnership with Henrico County public schools to supply books to students and families after seeing a news story requesting the donation of new and gently used books to support the school division’s new Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum Challenge in secondary schools.

Henrico County and Goodwill established a weekly opportunity for school personnel to visit the Goodwill headquarters and “dive for books”. School staff sort through thousands of books, selecting those that will be utilized and loved at their schools. Goodwill supplies bins and assistance in loading books into personal vehicles.

These free books are now being enjoyed by students in elementary, middle and high schools; Henrico Book Nooks (free libraries) around the county; and the Department of Family Engagement bus which provides giveaways to neighborhoods and community, civic, and school events.

This free program supplies a reliable source of books to the families in most need and to teachers who have limited budgets for books. As of September 2019, this initiative has placed 148,931 free books into the hands of teachers, librarians, students, and families. This is the best kind of recycling result.

Show Me the Way Award Winner, Recycle Right Alexandra

The City of Alexandria developed an online, interactive game that teaches children ages 7 and up to properly sort their recyclables, yard waste, and trash using City services. Players match discarded household items (paint, food waste, aluminum cans, etc.) with the appropriate City service and build their own digital Alexandria park in the process.

After completing all five levels of the game, players can print out a certificate of achievement. Residents who snapped a picture of themselves with their certificate and shared it on social media were entered into a contest to win items to help them reduce and divert waste (reusable tote bag, reusable water bottle, or a compost caddy).

Implementing this sorting game was also a short-term goal that was identified as part of the City’s newly adopted WasteSmart Strategic Plan.  The sorting game also features analytics in the back end, which provide statistics on the number of game plays, number of completed games, number of certificates printed, and a list of the most misunderstood materials. For example, the City found that one of the most misunderstood material that was incorrectly sorted in the game was loose shredded paper. The analytics showed that 33% of players thought this material could be recycled, when in fact, it should go into the trash bin. This type of data helps the City target specific outreach messages on contamination and how residents can Recycle Right in Alexandria.

Lemonade Winner, Page County

The Page County Solid Waste Department had to take a hard look at its recycling program when recycling markets began to deteriorate in 2018.

The Department had been spending $34,000 per year to deliver the recyclables collected at four County drop off locations to the nearest Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), consuming most of the revenue generated by sales of those recyclables.

In 2018, Department staff decided to change the program from a small recycling program with large transportation costs to a large revenue generator with minimal costs. By purchasing and installing a used baler in their maintenance garage, they were able to eliminate all transportation and delivery costs.

Since Page County started baling their own cardboard, comingled plastic, mixed paper, and aluminum cans, they have increased the amount of materials recycled, reduced costs and increased revenue.

“The Virginia Recycling Association is proud to shine a spotlight on the imaginative and sustainable recycling and waste reduction programs that Virginia organizations have to offer our communities,” said Teresa Sweeny, President of the VRA. “On behalf of our board, I also want to commend our other nominees for their hard work and determination to make recycling easier to understand and accessible to everyone.”

Applications for 2020 VRA Awards will be accepted in beginning in August 2020.
Visit www.vrarecycles.org for more information.

Watch an interview with VRA Sponsor Ron DuPerow of Humdinger Equipment.

Watch an interview with Craig Coker of Coker Composting & Consulting, a VRA sponsor and long-time member.

Click here to watch a conversation with Helen Lee, Environmental Program Manager with the City of Alexandria,  about changes they’ve made to improve their glass recycling program.

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