The Virginia Recycling Association facilitated a training session about America Recycles 2005 at the 2005 Virginia Recycling Association Conference in September. At the session, two organizations shared stories about their 2004 activities. Page County was announced as the winner of the 2004 coordinator incentive contest that the VRA sponsored to encourage and reward participation. For their 2004 campaign, Page County received $500 to use towards future recycling outreach projects and America Recycles efforts.

Following the presentations, all participants discussed practices for promoting recycling through AR2005 and collecting pledges. Posters, pledge cards, pencils, collection boxes and toolkit CDs were distributed to participants.

More than 3,200 Virginia residents pledged their support of recycling as part of the America Recycles contest and were entered into a drawing for prizes, all of which were made from recycled products. The VRA selected 5 youth and 5 adult winners to award prizes valued at nearly $400.

Youth Winners

Level Prize Winner(s) First Place “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” (Canadian version printed on recycled paper) and a backpack made from recycled tire rubber Chaz Martin, Hopewell Second Place Juice bag purse Daniel Ward, Martinsville Third Place Recycled crayon with notepad of recycled paper Michael Reedy, Chesterfield Chloe Brown, Chesterfield Alain Romero, Fairfax

Adult Winners

Level Prize Winner(s) First Place Prize pack including a purse made from a license plate, a picture frame made from bicycle chain, a fleece pullover made from recycled plastic, and a set of glass goblets made from wine bottles Fannie Law, Pittsylvania Second Place Tote bag made from recycled tire rubber Jami Pelkey, Roanoke Third Place Recycled paper stationery Robert Holland, Hanover Dave Watson, Chesterfield Audrey Knight, Crozet

Virginia AR coordinator Kelley Hope authored an article about America Recycles 2005 that was published in the September/October 2005 edition of the Virginia Review, a journal about Virginia state and local government. The article covered 3 pages and included highlights from various events held in the state in 2004.

Celebration Highlights – Local Activities

Stafford County kicked off a new mixed paper drop-off recycling program with a paper recycling drive on November 15. The ten citizens and one organization who participated collected 2,300 pounds of paper (pictured at right). Prizes were awarded to participants. Also in Stafford, the Rappahannock Regional Solid Waste Management Board provided bookmarks to each student and donated one environmentally-themed book to each class in the elementary schools in Stafford County and the City of Fredericksburg.

The City of Roanoke held its second annual Giant Indoor Yard Sale. The City sold table space to interested citizens to fund the purchase of recycling containers and recycling education projects. The citizens were required to sell only “gently used” items – no new products. Participants were invited to pledge their support of recycling and were eligible to win a number of prizes donated from area businesses, including grocery story and fast food gift certificates, bus passes, a zoo membership and books.

Middle school students in Nelson County designed a sign using soda bottle caps to promote the County’s recycling program (pictured at right). Elementary school children decorated paper shopping bags to use for collecting recyclables at home.
Fauquier County began a public school recycling program on November 15 and used the AR posters to promote the new program.

Bedford County held a recycling drive in October and November. For each ton of recyclables collected, the County planned to donate $10 to the Bedford Chapter of the American Red Cross for hurricane relief. During the two months, one hundred and seventy-five tons of recyclables were collected, an increase of 95% from October 2004 and a 38% increase from November 2004. A donation in the amount of $1,750.00 will be made to the Bedford Chapter of the American Red Cross.

Recycled products were the focus of the event at Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, where a display of items was available for employees to view on November 15th (pictured at right).

Collegiate School in Richmond observed AR05 with gifts of appreciation for the fourth grade classes who coordinate the school’s classroom recycling program. Each child in the two classes received a muffin with a letter R made of frosting on it. In addition, the school’s EcoArt class received a presentation from a local vendor of recycled products, who also taught them how to make flower sculptures out of soda bottles. The kids will also be helping to educate their classmates about the school’s new cafeteria recycling program by designing posters.

Also in Richmond, the Central Virginia Waste Management Authority sponsored their fourth annual family recycling festival at the Children’s Museum. During the event, kids were able to practice their bowling using plastic soda bottles for pins, create a piece of handmade recycled paper, make an edible landfill using pudding and crushed cookies and test their knowledge of recycling with a trivia game. CVWMA also partnered with a local dry cleaning company who hosted America Recycles pledge boxes at each of their 14 area locations. In addition, CVWMA sponsored 30-second ads on the CBS affiliate to promote curbside recycling during the month of November. Four-second station identification spots and metro traffic report sponsorships were used to promote AR05 in the first weeks of November.

For more information, please contact:

Kelley Hope
Virginia’s America Recycles coordinator
c/o Central Virginia Waste Management Authority
804-359-8413 or khope@cvwma.com