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$1,000 Grant Goes to Chancellor Elementary PTA

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We’re excited to announce that today’s award of our 2021 Green Grants goes to the Chancellor Elementary Parent-Teacher Association in Spotsylvania County, who will receive $1000 for its Recycling project.  We’ll be announcing one each day during the month of June. 

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.

The Chancellor Elementary PTA will use their grant funds to install water bottle refill stations. This will encourage students to use refillable water bottles to safely meet their hydration needs because the school’s water fountains were closed due to COVID restrictions.  Currently, single-use plastic bottles are the only way for children to access drinking water.  The plastic bottles are being thrown away, and if even a fourth of the students fill their water bottle once each school day, a refill station will prevent over 2,400 plastic water bottles from being sent to the landfill every month!

The school system’s county maintenance will install the retrofit kit to the water fountain therefore eliminating installation costs.  

The mission at Keep Virginia Beautiful is to engage and unite Virginians to improve the natural and scenic environment.  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.

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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!

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Thankful

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LeavesEven though it’s been a crazy year, we have many things to be thankful for at Keep Virginia Beautiful.  We have a talented Board of Directors that continued to give their time and talent as we negotiate Zoom meetings and explore ways to continue our mission.  We have an entire network of Adopt-a-Highway permit holders who are out on the roads cleaning up litter, including plenty of PPE these days.  We have our state Affiliates to the north, south, east and west motivating their communities and accomplishing so many beautiful acts.  We are especially grateful for our donors, volunteers, event participants, and sponsors.  We are so very thankful for all of you!

And because we know how much you care about our mission, we want to share an important piece from Keep America Beautiful about responsible ways you can celebrate Thanksgiving Day:

Nearly 90,000 people across America have taken the Keep America Beautiful® #BeRecycled pledge and they are taking steps to make their Thanksgiving greener. Here are eco-friendly Thanksgiving tips to add sustainability to your holiday:

Go natural. Decorate with nature. Bring pine branches, pinecones, acorns, and colorful leaves into your home. It will add fragrant beauty to your table.  And after the holiday, these decorations can all be returned to nature.

Shop locally. Try shopping at a farmer’s market near you. Local foods require fewer greenhouse gases to get to you, and are usually grown on smaller farms using more sustainable practices.

Reuse like your grandma did.  Set the table with reusable dishes and cloth napkins.  If single-use is your choice, be sure to purchase disposable plates, cups, napkins, and utensils made from 100 percent recycled or compostable materials.

Reduce food waste. Tons of food will be scraped into the garbage this Thanksgiving. Start with smaller portions to reduce this waste.

Repurpose. One of the best parts of Thanksgiving dinner is the leftovers. Store in reusable containers with reusable lids, and try making a delicious stock for soups, chilis and stews with what is left of the turkey.

Recycle. The aluminum trays used for baking the turkey (if you use one) are recyclable. Cleaning these pans can be a bit of a chore, but it’s a big piece of aluminum worth recycling.

Give back to the community. Volunteer at a food bank or donate extra unused food to a shelter. If food banks are not allowing volunteers, grocery shop for a neighbor in need. Giving back to those around you is a powerful feeling.

Happy Thanksgiving to you!

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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.

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University of Lynchburg has the Write Stuff

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The University of Lynchburg is awarded a Green Grant of $500 for their Recycling project.

Founded in 1903, University of Lynchburg established an Environmental Sustainability Society on campus to find new and innovative ways to promote sustainability in their community. As a collaboration between the English Department and Environmental Science and Sustainability Department, the “Writers Recycle” program will encourage students, faculty, and staff to recycle their writing instruments, which otherwise would be contributing to landfills. They will use their grant to purchase TerraCycle Zero Waste Boxes, one of the few companies that accepts pens, pencils, and markers.

The Zero Waste Boxes will be placed around campus, including high traffic areas like the English Department, the Writing Center, and the Library.  Once collected and sent to TerraCycle, the writing instruments are separated by material composition, cleaned and melted into hard plastic that can be remolded to make new recycled products.

We look forward to seeing how many pounds of writing utensils you’ll keep out of the landfill!  Congratulations!

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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!)

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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

 

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Get Your Green on Halloween!

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Do you have plans for Halloween?  Are you going to dress up?  Are you looking forward to some wonderful treats and snacks? Do you have your mask yet?  Maybe your plans would be different if you knew some basic Halloween facts.

Halloween probably started about 2,000 years ago with Celtic Druids celebrating “Samhain” or the changing of the seasons.  Summer was officially over, it was getting colder, and they needed to steel themselves for a long winter.  Ghosts would come out somewhere around the end of October with the end of the harvests.  The Druids would dress in costumes and burn dead crops in an effort to communicate with these spirits and receive messages and prophecies about the coming year.

The Roman Empire crowded the Celtic tribes for a couple of centuries and brought with them the festivals of Feralia and Pomona.  Feralia was a festival commemorating the passing of the dead.  Pomona was a goddess of fruit and trees.  Her symbol was an apple.  Bob for apples, anyone?

Pope Boniface IV created a day to honor all Christian martyrs around 610 A.D. and Pope Gregory III added saints around 740, making it an “All Saint’s Day.”  In old English this was “Alholowmesse” or “All Hallows Day” and the night before was “All Hallows Eve.”

How far we’ve come.

This year we should see around 40 million trick-or-treaters.  Americans will eat almost 25 pounds of candy this year, with most of it going down in the first week of November.  The lovely pumpkin, which is an almost entirely edible fruit, loaded with potassium and Vitamin A, is a cash crop in the United States, with over a BILLION pounds grown each year.

Why is all of this important for Keep Virginia Beautiful?  Consumption.  Remember our mission and our objectives?  Reduce, reuse, recycle?  Litter prevention?  Waste reduction and education?  All important issues with Halloween.

Are you planning on a costume for your neighborhood foray?  Perhaps you should make your own.  Many of the capes, tights, and especially masks, sold commercially for Halloween are made with plastic.   Does your little superhero need a foam weapon?   Plastic.  Make a costume out of household goods.  If you’re not that creative you could consider trading with the folks next door or participate in a Costume Swap.

There is also a great deal of plastic wrapping your snacks.  We want your snacks to be safe and kid-friendly but at least make them eco-safe and Earth-friendly too!  How about organic snacks?  You can visit Local Harvest and find out what’s in season now for some great treat ideas.  Use some of that billion pounds of pumpkins to make some good, Virginia Pumpkin cookies!  Are your candies made with a bunch of chemicals and high-fructose corn syrup or natural cane sugar, real fruit juices, and Fair Trade chocolate?  The Fair Trade chocolate guys are pretty heavy into sustainability and organic growing.  There is a really cool program through Global Exchange that encourages “Reverse Trick-or-Treating.”  You can get a kit from them and as you go door-to-door you can hand out Fair Trade candies and information cards.  Makes it kind of a “Trick-or-Treat-or-Trade” evening, doesn’t it?

When we were kids the container of choice for our treats was a pillowcase.  Preferably a King-sized pillowcase.  We’ve hopefully gotten you to shop with a reusable bag and when you need to you ask for paper.  Go the same route for your little goblin and create a custom one!  Non-toxic paints are a must and there are also a lot of crayons and art supplies made with soy instead of chemicals and paraffin.

Use that same mentality with your moody lighting, too.  We used to but a bulb in our Jack-o-Lantern but switched to candles as we went Green.  The traditional candles that we used were paraffin-based and released toxic chemicals.  We switched to organic soy candles, which are from renewable crops, healthier for our lungs and environment, and last longer.  As we travel the neighborhood in search of booty the little one carries a battery-free flashlight.  Turn the crank and it glows!  And the little one gets a charge out of giving a charge:  “I can do it!!”

Halloween is still one of our favorite holidays.  It is fun and spooky and scary, and it gives us a great opportunity to meet the neighbors again (so much more fun than post-hurricane bonding).  As we go out this year we’re going to think about our Celtic ancestors and do it with a nod to harvest time and Mother Earth.  And Superman.  We’ll just make out own cape.

 

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Going Back Green!

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I myself am a student and I know that the whole crisis with global warming/the increase in littering bothers us more than adults may think.  It may not seem like it at times but we do care about our environment.   Many schools nowadays have clubs that go around and pick up litter on the campus, or they go around checking to see how teachers left their room: are the lights turned off?  Did they turn off their computers?  Sure there are still those lazy teenagers who couldn’t care less, and think the world is their personal dump, but most of us don’t like tarnishing the world we live in.  So I thought it would be cool if I could find a bunch of school supplies that were Eco friendly! Surprisingly there are A LOT of supplies out that are better for the environment.

A constant thing on a kid’s supply list as they grow up is a binder.  Binders are often made out of cardboard and plastic; two things that aren’t always great for the environment.  I have found binders that are one hundred percent recycled material though.  You can custom order them on earthbinder.com.  Cool, right?  Most kids I know would think so.

Pencils are a must have in kindergarten through twelfth grade!  No matter how old the child is, myself included, they’re constantly breaking pencils.  Pencils are made out of wood, so for every broken pencil think of a tree snapping in half.   The problem is solved though!  People have started making pencils out of recycled paper to reduce the negative effects of wooden ones.  I personally think the recycled ones are cooler anyways… And our pencil cases can be good for the environment!  There are ones by O.P.P. (other peoples plastic!).  It’s a decent sized container and it comes in different tie dye patterns.   Generally they’re better quality than that eight dollar Justin Bieber one.   You could get one of the pencil pouches made out of juice boxes!  I’m going into my freshman year of high school, and I still drink juice pouches.  To me, this is a creative way to make a stylish school supply, and an awesome way to help the environment!

Notebooks, folders, and paper are all being recycled too!  I’ve learned from experience:  things that are green are generally made better.  A lot of the time, they may not have a pretty print or Selena Gomez pasted on it, but they usually have a witty saying on  the front.  The type of saying that makes you want to buy it over the latest Pop Princess.

There is this really great website, Terracycle.net , where you can get all sorts of school supplies made from things kids use and recycle everyday.  Now you know a capri-sun backpack or doritos pencil box is way cool and really unique.   Also if you’re feeling really green you can even sign your school up to recycle the things that they use to make their recycled goods, check it out!

Guess what! Your backpack, book bag, back-bag… Whatever you call it can be environmentally friendly too!  Instead of getting a plastic one, why not get one made of natural fiber?  Companies are now making a lot of hemp bags.  That’s pretty awesome!  Or you could use the one you had last year!  There’s no problem in using your old one.  Remember reduce, RE-USE, and recycle.  The same goes for lunchboxes, truth is, your old one is still probably more cool than anything new.  If you want a new one though, why not get one made out of recycled juice pouches to match your pencil case?  They’re called Bazura Bags and are in style right now.  Or you could get a Shiva metal one!  Metal ones last for years, unless you’re amazingly clumsy like me and drop it, oh, about every day!  Then they still last at least two.  They are worth the investment, trust me!

Paper clips are even being recycled now!  They come in many colors yes, but wouldn’t you rather have the pack made of recycled steel?  It helps the environment and gives you a warm, fuzzy feeling inside from helping.  Even if you are not going to use them, why not pick up a pack for the teacher!  Teachers most likely are looking for a greener solution too.  How would you like a school supply made of money?  There’s a corporation making rulers out of money that is no longer in circulation!  That is way cool to me!  It’s an ingenious way to get rid of money that’s worth nothing anymore and they last long.  Amazing!  Check them out at greenraising.com.  Staple free stapler?  Impossible right?  Wrong!  Out now are staplers the clip together five pieces of paper easily by poking a hole in them and hook them together like a pocket.  It save us from getting them stuck in our fingers alright!  Woo, that’s a major help on my part; no more intense staple pain!  Yeah!

I’m sure there are more supplies out there that I did not mention, but I got most of the important ones.  Go back to school more environmentally friendly; there’s no need to harm our world even more.  It only takes one to get the ball rolling.  Soon everyone will be jealous of yours, or your child’s, green school supplies.  I’m going to be the one at my school.  The challenge is now yours.  Will you be the one?

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The Greenest Brick is the One Already In The Wall

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As the economy continues to struggle we spend alot of time watching pundits talk about “indicators”.  Seems a good barometer of the health of our country’s economy is “New Home Construction”.  That’s all well and good but here at Keep Virginia Beautiful we like to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle so we started doing some thinking about some true red white and blue “Green Construction”.

We came across an article about a new food distributor in Chicago.  Check this place out!  Testa Produce took an old arsenal and turned it into a LEED Platinum produce warehouse.  They are the first food distributor in the country to get this certification!  The extra thick blast proof walls keep the building cool during summer heatwaves and hold in heat during blustery Chicago winters.  They use solar panels (which are programmed to follow the sun) and a wind turbine to generate over half of all of their power needs.  A real, live green roof greets employees and guests as it collects and filters rainwater.  This rainwater is used for all of their non-potable needs and porous pavers in the lots drain into adjacent wetlands.  Solar cisterns heat water for showers and sinks.  Skylights bathe workers in great ambient light.  Did we mention that they recently converted their delivery fleet to biodiesel?

We are still dealing with the effects of the tsunami in Japan but did you know that Chile was also hit?  A group of forward-thinking college students there converted a slew of old shipping containers into classrooms and dorms.  The containers were everywhere on the waterfront and now they have a great new use!

How can you reuse what you have to impact our environment?

The first and easiest step is to look at kitchen waste.  Compost!  Table scraps make great garden starters!  Look at what you bring back from the grocery!  All of those jars and bottles make great containers for stuff that you make and store.  Sort that big pile of screws and bolts into a manageable arrangement!  Many of the items that you bring home can be reused!  WIndex now has a concentrate for most of their household products.  Just add water and you’ve eliminated the need for that much more plastic!

As long as we’re giving a shout out to Windex did you know that old newspapers are great for cleaning windows?

Get creative, people!  To Reduce you have to Reuse and Recycle!

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