VRA Offers Three Regional Workshops

As the National Recycling Coalition (NRC) was holding its national conference in nearby Baltimore this past September, the VRA decided not to hold its regular annual fall conference. Instead, three one-day workshops were offered this October. The workshops were in different areas of the state and were free. Locations were Blacksburg, Charlottesville, and Chesapeake.

The VRA wanted to provide training to members as well as attract others with the need or interest to learn more about recycling, but who don’t generally attend VRA events. Additionally, the VRA wanted to provide an opportunity for those in a region to network with one another. Workshop notices were sent to VRA members, local and regional government recycling offices, members of the Virginia Chapter of the Solid Waste Management Association of North America (SWANA), Virginia colleges and universities and others.

Speakers with a good understanding of their session topics were recruited from Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina.

Feedback was extremely positive. An average of 30+ attendees were at each workshop. The workshops were designed to allow for easy day trips for participants -- each workshop ran from 10:00 a.m.
to 2:15 p.m.

Different topics were covered at each workshop, as listed below.

Thursday, October 16,
Blacksburg, Va.

• Rural Recycling
• Waste Exchanges & Re-Stores

Friday, October 24
Charlottesville, Va.

• Electronics & Computer
  Recycling
• Supermarket and Institutional
  Food Composting

Thursday, October 30
Chesapeake, Va.

• Work Smarter, Not Harder
• Special Events

For additional information, please
contact, Georgiana Ball
(804) 236-2781.