Program of the Month
Poster from the "Litter. It just isn't natural." campaign, supported by DEQ. The goal of the campaign is to prevent litter by showing how litter can affect people, wildlife and the environment.
A volunteer from Friends of Chesterfield's Riverfront picks up litter from a Virginia waterway.
Volunteers receive computers, printers and other electronics for recycling at an electronics collection and recycling event in Dickenson County on March 19, 2005.
Recycling and Litter Prevention Program
Communities across Virginia provide recycling services for old newspapers, glass jars, plastic milk jugs, aluminum cans and other recyclables, and promote litter prevention through litter cleanups. The most successful efforts, however, go a step further.
“Education, networking and community support are absolutely necessary for recycling and litter prevention programs to be successful,” said Steve Coe of the Recycling and Litter Prevention program at the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.
DEQ supports all three activities, especially the networking role.
“We routinely provide program information and facilitate networking among government agencies, businesses, the general public and the recycling and litter coordinators,” Coe said. “We get people talking, and when people are talking, they’re thinking.”
As part of its support role for recycling efforts, DEQ works closely with the Recycling Markets Development Council to identify barriers to recycling in the Commonwealth and enhance opportunities to advance recycling through market development or other means. Industry, public and government agency representatives are members of the council.
DEQ also works with the Litter Control and Recycling Fund Advisory Board and the Virginia Council for Litter Prevention and Recycling to promote public awareness on the effects of litter. In 2002 a new public awareness or educational campaign was developed with the slogan “Litter. It just isn’t natural.” The goal of the campaign is to prevent litter by showing how litter can affect people, wildlife and the environment.
DEQ will also be joining other state agencies and local litter prevention programs to promote a statewide litter awareness campaign, scheduled to run from April 9 to June 30. The goal of the campaign is to heighten public awareness of litter and cleanup activities along Virginia’s roadways, waterways and other public areas.
The Recycling and Litter Prevention program also provides guidance and grants assistance to local governments for recycling and litter prevention programs. Grant funding comes from a litter tax paid by manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors. Localities use the grants to fund coordinator positions, buy collection containers for recycling or support other litter and recycling efforts.
In addition, DEQ tracks and reports on the recycling efforts by localities based upon information from annual recycling rate reports, filed by April 30 of each year. State law requires localities and regional waste management areas to maintain a 25 percent recycling rate.
“Since 1993, the statewide average recycling rate has been over 30 percent, meeting and exceeding the 25 percent recycling mandate,” Coe said.
The program also is involved in several special projects to promote electronics recycling and improve public awareness. DEQ recruited 18 representatives of local governments, electronics recyclers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2004 to serve on an Electronics Waste Management Advisory Committee to review Virginia’s electronics recycling capabilities. This committee assisted in the development of guidelines for use by local governments in setting up electronics recycling programs.
Dell, Inc. awarded DEQ a $10,000 grant to implement a one-time, no-cost electronics collection and recycling event in a rural area of Virginia. DEQ was one of only 20 recipients during 2004. DEQ selected the Cumberland Plateau Regional Waste Management Authority, representing Buchanan, Dickenson and Russell counties, to host the project. Just completed, the project collected more than 29,000 pounds of computers, televisions, radios and cell phones to be recycled.
In all, 16 Virginia localities have hosted electronics recycling events, and 11 localities have regularly scheduled events each year. Most recently the Central Virginia Waste Management Authority hosted three electronics collection events in November 2004, collecting 16,678 pounds of material. Additional collection events are scheduled during April 2005. Statewide for calendar year 2003, Virginia localities reported that 92 tons of electronics were recycled.
On top of its many networking, educational, promotional and reporting efforts, the program also serves as an information clearinghouse, primarily through its web site, for citizens on recycling and litter prevention topics.
In addition, Coe said he routinely fields calls from citizens across the state asking questions that range from, “What do I do with number five plastic,” to “What are the benefits of recycling.”
With all of the continuing interest in litter prevention and recycling, “the opportunity to broaden the knowledge base is very good,” Coe said.