America Recycles Day Highlights

November 2003 marked the seventh annual America Recycles Day (ARD) awareness campaign. ARD is a chance for all Americans to renew their commitment to recycling by participating in local collection programs and supporting recycled markets. The effort in Virginia continues to grow, with a larger number of Virginians observing ARD each year.

In 2003, more than twenty events, such as those described below, were sponsored across the Commonwealth.

VRA Pledge Contest
The VRA received approximately 1,700 pledges for the Virginia Recycles Day pledge contest. From these entries, five winners were chosen at random to receive recycling prize packs valued at $150.

Congratulations to the following who pledged to support recycling in 2004 and have been awarded prizes: Judy Poore of Glen Allen, Ann McClain-Bridges of Richmond, Robert Branyan of Virginia Beach, Cheryl Beazer of Richmond and Keno Stump of Strasburg.

Winner Cheryl Beazer enthusiastically thanked the VRA for her prizes, stating “They are all wonderful, especially being made from recycled materials.”

All of our winners will certainly enjoy the interesting variety of recycled products chosen to illustrate the way new things can be made from materials that might otherwise be thrown away. Included in each prize pack was a messenger bag made from tires, a fleece jacket made from soda bottles, recycled paper stationary, and a glass suncatcher. The packs also contained a $35 gift card to Staples, one of the national ARD sponsors.

Virginia citizens submitted about 750 pledges online to www.americarecyclesday.org. The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, which held its own ARD pledge contest, received about 900 pledges from citizens of Northern Virginia. Adding those to the 1,700 paper pledges submitted to the VRA, Virginia’s total pledges equaled 3,326 for 2003, an increase of 84 percent from 2002.

UVA Recycling
UVA Recycling held ARD events on Wednesday, November 12, 2003, to promote national environmental issues, local outreach, and continued improvement of the University’s recycling program.

The activities were held on the historic “Lawn” of the University, near the famed Rotunda. Included were a “Dumpster Dive” and an E-Cycling information booth to educate the University community about the importance of recycling and buying recycled. In addition, the event featured a “Garbage Gala” with carnival games and a “Re-Castle Contest” to show students that they can be involved in fun and easy conservation efforts at the University. Despite the rain, many students stopped to see the displays and to ask questions.

Several members of the community showed an interest in UVA Recycling’s events as well. The University’s newspaper The Cavalier Daily introduced the event in Wednesday’s edition and followed up with a front-page picture on Thursday. The Daily Progress, reporting for the greater Charlottesville area, came to speak with UVA Recycling employees and printed a brief article about the experience on Thursday. In addition, local news station Channel 29 announced the celebration during evening broadcasting on the preceding days, and the Rivanna Solid Waste Authority included a notice of the activities in their own ARD publicity.

Frederick County Recycling
The Frederick County region celebrated America Recycles Day 2003 by more than doubling the average tonnage of e-waste it recycles each month.

Area residents and businesses recycled just over eleven tons of old electronics, including 168 monitors, 98 processors, and 82 televisions during the half-day event at the landfill. Frederick County Recycling combined its ARD celebration with its monthly eCycle event by distributing pledge cards and promotional items. A raffle was held for recycled-content t-shirts and glass ornaments, reinforcing the buy-recycled message.

Gloria Puffinburger, the county’s solid waste coordinator, credits the area’s top-rated news station, WINC-FM and radio personality Barry Lee with helping to spread the word about America Recycles Day, thus boosting turnout at the Saturday recycling collection. The station devoted an entire morning show, dubbed “WINC Recycling Day,” to ARD and recycling topics and interviewed the program managers in Winchester and Frederick County during news breaks.