plastic bags

Earth shaped like a heart

Wouldn’t You LOVE to Live More Sustainably?

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Earth shaped like a heartWe sometimes hear people say they’d like to live a more sustainable lifestyle, but it seems like it might be hard to live with, and they don’t know where to begin.  We want to help with that!

We want to give you a sample of some of the products you can use at home to avoid some of the single-use plastic items that we see every day.  You don’t have to dive into the deep end – even just a few swaps like these can have an affect on the amount of waste you produce.

The 2020 National Litter Study conducted by Keep America Beautiful revealed that plastic is the highest littered material.  According to National Geographics, Americans use an average of 365 plastic bags per person per year.4

Here are some products that we hope will help change the way you think about all those single-use plastic bags, and maybe even change your behavior.  If you do, you’ll probably find that you’re saving money too!

You can enter our “Sustainability Sampler Kit – At Home” during the month of February.  Ten names will be chosen, and we’ll ship the kits at no cost.  All we ask in return is that you use the items, and answer a short three-question poll to tell us what you think about the products.

Stasher reusable sandwich bags, washable sponges, mesh produce bags, and cloth bowl coversHere is a list of the products that are included, along with links to the vendors we used:

  • STASHERS – EcoManiac.com
    This reusable sandwich baggie is dishwasher safe, and keeps food fresh or small items corralled. Use this instead of single-use, disposable baggies.
  • WASHABLE SPONGE – Etsy Green Spot Shop
    Use this sponge in the kitchen or bathroom, and wash it in the dishwasher or washing machine instead of throwing away plastic sponges.
  • MESH PRODUCE BAGS – 3bbags.com
    Pass up the single-use plastic baggies at the grocery store or farmer’s market. These mesh bags won’t split with a heavy load, and can be washed and used many times.
  • CLOTH BOWL COVERS – EcoManiac.com
    Instead of struggling to tear off a piece of plastic wrap, these bowl covers are easy to slip on to keep items fresh on the shelf or in the fridge. Just put in the wash and they’re ready to go again.

You can begin to live more sustainably with just a few swaps!  We hope you’ll submit an entry to be included in the drawing to receive a Sustainability Sampler Kit to help us learn what works for you!

Gloucester Logo

Gloucester Clean Community Bags a $1,000 Green Grant

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Gloucester LogoGloucester Clean Community’s “Bag It Up” campaign was selected as one of the thirty Green Grant Awards we’re announcing each day in June.  Their goal is to offer reusable grocery bags to consumers at the farmers’ market this summer to decrease the amount of single-use plastic bags used during food purchases.

Although plastic produce and shopping bags are popular with consumers because they’re lightweight, and a hygienic way of carrying food item, they can take their toll on the environment.  Many plastic bags are sent to the landfill, fowl up recycling sorting equipment, or end up littering the landscape, becoming a hazard for farming and mowing equipment as well as wildlife.

Clean Community is aiming to help mitigate the use of single-use plastic bags in their community. Through a public outreach program, they plan to provide community members with reusable bags at farm stands in Gloucester.  They want to educate and encourage residents and visitors to think before automatically picking up single-use plastic bags.  They hope to enlist the help of the local 4-H, boy scouts or girl scouts to assist in enlightening the youth and the public by handing out reusable cloth bags at local farm stands.

Green Grant funds will be used to purchase reusable grocery bags to give away for free to the public.

Farmers' MarketClean Community will measure how many bags are handed out throughout the summer. A short survey or outreach will be offered to people regarding their knowledge of plastic pollution and ask why they do or do not use reusable grocery bags. Any leftover reusable grocery bags will be used to hold our Clean Gloucester Day cleanup volunteers’ supplies for our Fall Cleanup.

Gloucester County Clean Community in Gloucester strives to help keep Gloucester County clean and green. They promote recycling and proper disposal of solid waste, facilitates group cleanups and beautification projects, as well as conduct community outreach and education programs for schools.

Way to keep your community clean Gloucester!  Congratulations!

Frog Sculpture

16 Frogs Awarded Green Grant!

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Frog SculptureIt’s easy being green, says the 16 Frogs Citizens Panel, in Blacksburg, who will receive a grant award of $1000 for its Recycling program!

The 16 Frogs Citizen Panel is a public arts project with an environmental conscience. Sixteen bronze frog statues are placed strategically through the Town of Blacksburg to call attention to the freshwater under and around the streets and buildings. Most are resting above “ghost streams,” and each has a story to tell.

Reusing, reducing and recycling are at the heart of the 16 Frogs message because every single person, group or business can take part in protecting shared water resources. The Panel will use grant funds for design work, screen printing, and packaging of branded, reusable flatware packs, and reusable produce bags to promote environmentally healthy habits by reducing the use of disposable products.

Every year, government, non-profit, civic and service organizations in Virginia were invited to apply for grants for $500 to $1,000 describing how they plan to tackle an environmental concern in their community regarding Litter Prevention, Recycling, Cigarette Litter Prevention, or Community Beautification.  Since 2011, Keep Virginia Beautiful has provided $254,500 for 320 different environmental programs and projects all across the Commonwealth, due to the generosity of their partnership with Altria, as well as additional support from Coca-Cola, WestRock and Keep America Beautiful.

 

Altria Logo

Coca-Cola Logo        WestRock Logo         

 

Leaves and Money

Get Green Money!

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Leaves and MoneyThis is the last week that we’re accepting applications for our 30 in 30 Green Grants Program, so what are you waiting for?  Get your online application form submitted before midnight, April 30th!

Do you have a business or organization that is tired of cigarette butts on the ground?  One of the categories for grant funds is Cigarette Litter Prevention.  Cigarette Butts are the most littered item in the world!  They do not biodegrade and fade away harmlessly; cigarette butts are made of cellulose acetate, which is a form of plastic that does not go away, and they contain toxic chemicals.  Although small, they move with the rain across streets and parking lots, into storm drains, and into our beautiful waterways.  Did you know that cigarette butts can be recycled?  Learn more about Keep America Beautiful’s Cigarette Litter Prevention Program, and how Terracycle turns cigarette waste products into usable products.  Then apply for a Cigarette Litter Prevention Green Grant if it’s a good fit for your business or organization!

Do you belong to a Scouting group, faith organization, or school PTO? Another category we’re awarding grant funds for is Recycling.  The first thought that comes to mind is the blue bins with the chasing arrows recycling symbol on the side – and those are very useful!  But there is much more to recycling these days, it’s not just about cardboard and paper.  Plastic produce and checkout bags, dry cleaning bags, package wrap, bread wrappers and more can all be kept out of the landscape and landfill by recycling them.  Many stores across the state, such as Giant, Food Lion, Kroger, Target, and Staples will accept the bags you bring to them.  Repurposing is another form of Recycling.  Could your group host a “Fix-it Fair” where handymen and women repair items that may otherwise be added to the landfill?  Or repurposing items for art, if you know a group that would have that talent and ability!

The two other categories for Green Grant awards is Community Beautification and Litter Prevention.  Check out our webpage to learn more, and get your applications submitted before the April 30th deadline!

Earth Day Logo

Make Every Day Earth Day!

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Earth Day LogoIt’s wonderful that there’s a special day designated as Earth Day, which we’ll celebrate this week.  But at our organization we believe that EVERY day is Earth Day!

You can make one small change today that would make a significant difference – plastic bags, for example.  It’s easy to come home from the grocery store with several plastic bags, both from produce and from check out bagging, even if purchasing just a few things.  Food Lion estimates that if one household brought one reusable bag for each shopping trip, it would eliminate over 120 plastic shopping bags per year!

The common single-use plastic bag is lightweight and easily blown around parking lots and out of trash cans. They are the modern day tumbleweed.  They accumulate in the landscape, block storm drains, and can be very dangerous to wildlife.  If you have been saving some, you can use this search tool to find a location near you that accepts plastic bags for recycling.

Yet plastic bags can be easily eliminated by swapping reusable mesh bags for produce bags.  Here’s an Etsy store in Virginia that sells many sizes and styles of produce bags and other useful items.  Looking for a place to buy reusable checkout bags?  Most grocery stores offer them for sale near the checkout area, and I bet you can find a bag with the logo of your favorite sports team or college online.

If you’re already using reusable plastic bags – thank you!  You are doing a great service for scenic Virginia and aquatic and other wildlife.  Are you ready to take it to the next level?  If you want to know how to get your zero-waste journey started, Keep America Beautiful has the resources and tools to do it.

You can make every day Earth Day, starting with today!

Plastic Produce Bag

It’s in the Bag

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Knowing that plastic bags at grocery stores are a huge litter problem, Halifax County Quality of Place Work Group wanted to do something about it.  This organization is a product of the community strategic plan conducted by the Halifax County Chamber of Commerce last year.  Community leaders volunteer their time and talent to make a difference in the county where they live and work.

They applied to Keep Virginia Beautiful’s Green Grants program in the Recycling category, with the desire to change the littering and recycling culture in the county in southwest Virginia.

Their plan was to use their farmers markets to implement a campaign called, “It’s in the Bag.”  Two markets — Downtown South Boston Farmer’s Market and Town of Halifax Farmer’s Market – each set up a “Litter Prevention Station.” These stations gave a reusable mesh bag to customers.  They also had a receptacle there to collect used plastic bags for recycling.

During the campaign, volunteers at tables at the farmers markets were able to use the opportunity to talk with the public, give them informational material, answer questions, and educate them on the value of taking and using a reusable mesh produce bag instead of the single-use disposable plastic bags that are commonly available.

Josie Turcotte, Secretary of the Quality of Place Work Group, said their “It’s in the Bag” campaign was a success.  Although presented with some challenges with COVID restrictions and guidelines, they were able to distribute 348 reusable produce bags at the farmers market this past Summer.  She said the campaign was a good platform to be able to talk to community members on the effects of litter, and begin to create a litter-free culture.

They also collected over 2,000 used plastic bags for recycling!

Thank you Halifax County for caring about the problem with plastic bags, and for taking steps to move your community members towards better recycling habits.

Recycling Arrows

Ask the Experts About Recycling

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We are fortunate to have a talented Board of Directors for our organization.  Two Board members, Kim Hynes, Executive Director of Central Virginia Waste Management Authority, and Tad Phillips, VP Business Development at TFC Recycling, recently presented at the (virtual) Virginia Green Travel Conference.  They spoke about the recycling industry and how we need to pay attention as the world changes and adapts to supply and demand.  They assured us that the recycling infrastructure is alive and fully functional.  And they shed light on some common recycling myths.  Here are a few.

You may have thought that if the product has the familiar “chasing arrows” on it, you can automatically put it in the recycling bin, right?  Wrong!  Just because a product has the arrows on it DOES NOT denote it’s recyclable.   You can learn more about these labels online at How2Recycle.

Another widely debated topic is whether or not to toss the cardboard pizza box in with the recycling – yea or nay?  Interestingly, there was a 2020 study published by WestRock and Domino’s Pizza called (appropriately enough) the Grease Cheese Study.  WestRock concluded, “Therefore, there is no significant technical reason to prohibit post-consumer pizza boxes from the recycle stream.”  However, you still need to consider issues of mold or critters if you leave a greasy cheesy pizza box in your garage or outdoor container for two weeks until the recycling container is emptied.

Above all, it’s important that you make the effort to learn the guidelines for recycling in your local area.  But one consistent fact is that avoiding contaminants is critical to all recycling!

– DO NOT put recycling items in plastic bags, or throw plastic bags in with your household recyclables;

– DO NOT INCLUDE items that could become tangled, such as wires, hoses, cords, or clothing;

– DO NOT INCLUDE food waste or liquids;

– DO NOT INCLUDE electronics or batteries.

We’re grateful to have Kim and Tad on our Board, and hope that you’ve learned a few things from them too.

whes3

Washington Henry Goes Reusable!

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Washington Henry Goes Reusable!

WHES Reusable shopping bags

Washington Henry Elementary School won a grant from Keep Virginia Beautiful to promote the Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling of plastic bags.  With this grant, the WHES Go Green Committee was able to  purchase 700 Reusable bags!

 

 

 

Go Green Committee handing out bags

  • On November 6th, WHES created its first Outdoor Classroom

  • On November 8th, Election Day, our Go Green Committee handed out nearly 100 Reusable bags to the public in front of our local Kroger. (Additional dates are set for the spring)

  • On November 15th, America Recycles Day, our Go Green Committee gave every WHES family and staffer a WHES Reusable bag.

 

 

 

The new WHES Outdoor Classroom

In addition to our Reusable  bags, WHES Go Green was able to purchase some Recycled plastic border and Recycled plastic weed block to use in our brand new Outdoor Classroom! (Compliments of Hurricane Irene and some very dedicated volunteers!)

turtle WWES

Waste Watchers of the Eastern Shore Signs In!

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Trash Talk, an occasional column about garbage by Jenny OʼNeill

A Sign of the Times

Have you seen the signs sprouting up in parking lots along the Shore? Look for them and pass the word to your friends and neighbors. This summer is Bring Your Own Bag season on the Eastern Shore. Waste Watchers is sponsoring this summer long campaign after being awarded $1000 as part of Keep Virginia Beautiful’s 30 in 30 contest.   We used the grant money to put up signs with that same message. These colorful, double-sided aluminum signs are 18X24 and the design is by local artist Miriam Riggs. (If you want one for your own back door, to remind you as you head out, we will provide them at cost which is $30.)

Walmart and Food Lion in Onley already have theirs up so check them out and thank them for participating. Waste Watchers hopes to see them all around the Shore at Food Lions and Fresh Prides and Dollar Stores and other places where people appreciate being reminded to Bring Your Own Bag. It would be a nice touch to have our Shore pride represented up and down Highway 13 with a local message for a sustainable practice. This is not a radical proposal and sustainable is not a dirty word. Waste Watchers is suggesting that this summer we all make an effort to get in the habit of Bringing Our Own Bags to the store. In my case it took me at least 6 months to really get the habit, but Iʼm a slow learner, so the summer is a good place to start.

Many localities are banning plastic bags or making them cost consumers, but thatʼs not likely to happen here. What we can do is Reduce the use of them in the first place, Reuse them when possible (they are great for lining waste baskets, picking up poop, or carrying tennis shoes just for starters) and then, Recycle them. Here on the Eastern Shore our plastic bags are recycled and thatʼs a good thing. What would be better would be to use less of them altogether.

Weʼve all seen plastic bags blowing in the wind, across the fields, hanging from the trees, and bobbing along the beach. Here on the Shore this is a sadly common sight. Plastic bags, along with other litter, line our roadways.  (Can you believe Iʼm glad the weeds are growing because they hide the roadside trash? Itʼs one of the summerʼs illusions that I actually look forward to. After the long fall, winter, and spring of looking at the garbage in the ditches Iʼm relieved not to see it. But I digress.)

As a Trash Talker for Waste Watchers of the Eastern Shore Iʼve been referring to plastic, made from petroleum, as having come from dinosaur bones. My idea was to illustrate how old it was. Well, I was wrong. Turns out that itʼs made from stuff even older than the dinosaurs. Tiny little marine life, plants and animals, millions and millions of years ago, even before the dinosaurs roamed the earth, died and were buried at the bottom of the ocean. Silt and rock covered it and over millions of years the pressure and heat of it all created what today we call petroleum or crude oil.  This is what we make both plastic and gasoline out of.

The point is this: plastic, which is made from petroleum, took eons to make. We use it for a few minutes.  In the time that it takes to unwrap the gift from the packaging, to tote home the groceries, to slake our thirst from bought water in a plastic bottle, it is gone. For a few minutes we may futilely try to warm our fingers on the styrofoam cup and when weʼre done we throw it away. Thereʼs a lack of balance in this equation. Imagine the scales: On one side we have a nonrenewable resource made from pre-dinosaur creatures and plants millions of years old; on the other we have something made from this resource that we use one time and throw away. See the imbalance?

Americans throw away 2,500,000 plastic bottles every hour.  Thatʼs just in this country. As for styrofoam cups we throw away 25 billion of them every year.  Billion, trillion, or gazillion itʼs a huge and shocking amount because styrofoam doesnʼt biodegrade.  It doesnʼt break down in nature. It stays around forever. The same thing is true of plastic bags. Which is why, although they have their place in modern lives, it would be a very good thing if we could all use less of them.

Those bags you see in the fields? They cost a farmer thousands of dollars in tractor repairs when one gets caught up in the works. Those bags in the water? Sea turtles think that theyʼre jellyfish and take a fatal bite, clogging their intestines and blocking their airways.

In the trees they hang like some malignant moss, some weird symbol hanging along the roadway. And it is a symbol.  Litter telegraphs loud and clear that we donʼt care about where we live.

I’m sure that everyone reading this is saying “Hey, thatʼs not true of me.”  And I believe you, but we shouldnʼt kid ourselves: going easy on litterers ultimately costs us more than prosecuting them would. That, however, is a subject for another day.

Bring Your Own Bag- itʼs a Shore thing.

Jenny OʼNeill is the Coordinator of Waste Watchers of the Eastern Shore

 

forest collage

Grayson County High School WINS $1,000 Grant

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Grayson County High School has been awarded a $1,000 grant in the Plastic Bag Recycling Category.  The KVB grant program focuses greater resources and attention on individual localities throughout the Commonwealth and how they are addressing the issues of litter prevention, recycling, waste reduction, beautification and education.  In honor of Earth Month, Keep Virginia Beautiful (KVB) is awarding “30 Grants In 30 Days” in April, 2011.

Grayson County High School’s ECO Club plans to use the grant money to educate their community about the value of recycling plastic bags and using reusable bags as an alternative.  They have become a  community leader in recycling, plastic bag recycling, and reuse education as a natural extension to the great work they have already put into their community.  Working with local retailers and the Blue Ridge Discovery Center, Grayson’s ECO club will lead the charge into a future with fewer plastic bags, more reusable bags, and greater community responsibility.  For more information on Grayson County High School or their project, please contact Debby Greif at 276-773-2131 or [email protected].

KVB provided the opportunity for government, non-profit and/or service organizations in Virginia to apply for one of (30) $1,000 grants in three different categories: 10 grants for plastic bag reduction and recycling, 10 grants for cigarette litter prevention, and 10 grants for community greening and beautification.  These grants are made possible by KVB’s partners, Walmart and Waste Management.

The mission at Keep Virginia Beautiful is to engage and unite Virginians to improve our natural and scenic environment.  Our goals include becoming the leading statewide voice, providing a framework for improved communication and collaboration, cultivating and supporting sustainable programs, and engaging citizens by linking them to volunteer opportunities and information through these 5 impact areas:  Litter Prevention, Waste Reduction, Recycling,Beautification, and Environmental Education.

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