Virginia Beach Receives Community Recycling Award

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The City of Virginia Beach, Va., USA, this week received the 2010 American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) Community Recycling Award. The annual award recognizes outstanding community, business, and school paper recycling programs across the country.

In 2009, Virginia Beach recovered nearly 23,800 tons of paper and paper-based packaging for recycling, more than 68% of all recyclables collected. Virginia Beach residents were educated about the recycling program through print and online promotional recycling resources that featured a Catch the Wave...Recycle! slogan and clear visuals depicting recyclable materials. Community-wide events and activities, such as the annual Virginia Beach Earth Day Celebration and Virginia Beach Celebrates America Recycles Day, helped to further promote the recycling program, and resulted in a 67% participation rate in 2009.

The City's curbside recycling program was developed and implemented in1997 in conjunction with TFC Recycling. The program currently services 124,000 households at curbside, with additional recycling services provided to 94 city schools and related buildings, 106 municipal buildings, and 5 public-use recycling drop-off sites.