R ECYC L E n o r f o l k - c o a s ta l v i r g i n i a C E L E B R AT E , C H R O N I C L E & I N S P I R E A Q UA R T E R LY P U B L I C AT I O N P R O D U C E D by
ISSUE 2 AU G U S T- O CTO B E R 2 0 1 5
wa n t to s e e yo u r c h i l d’s a r t w o r k f e at u r e d o n t h e f r o n t pa g e o f r e c yc l e n o r f o l k ? s u b m i t e n v i r o n m e n ta l ly- m i n d e d a r t w o r k e l e ct r o n i c a l ly to i n f o @ r e c yc l i n g p e r k s . c o m
3 KIDS CAN HELP Kids jump in to help reduce waste and educate on plastic bags.
4 BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT A spotlight on Belmont House of Smoke and its Karaoke night.
6 NO BUTTS ABOUT IT The City of Norfolk is dedicated to reducing cigarette litter through its new educational campaign.
8 RECYCLING REWARDS Check out a complete list of businesses offering discounts to reward your recycling efforts.
11 THANK YOU The Great American Clean Up has come to an end and Norfolk is thanking those who made it possible.
12 CONTAMINATION Contaminated recycling means more costly processing and possibly more expensive service.
Recycle Norfolk-Coastal VA is produced by Recycling Perks. It is our goal to build awareness of recycling, encourage people to participate in recycling every day and every week by rewarding
14 BACK TO SCHOOL It’s time to head back to school, but not without remembering to keep it green.
for recycling with discounts and freebies.
YOUR HAMPTON ROADS TEAM Monique Webb | mwebb@recyclingperks.com Bill Dempsey | bdempsey@recyclingperks.com
16 RECYCLED LAUGHS Environmentally themed comics to lighten the mood and make your day great.
HAVE A DIFFICULT PROBLEM? Bring it to the kids. WORDS: Stephen Leaman, Norfolk Environmental Commission
Ever see a plastic bag caught in a tree or stuck to a fence? Ever wonder how it got there? Plastic bags seem to have a life of their own. They conspire to “escape” and create an unsightly blight on our beautiful landscape. Although plastic bags and plastic film deteriorate, they are not biodegradable. So in addition to remaining unsightly, the litter “shreds” into smaller bits that further contaminate soil and waterways.
schools and started a pilot competitive collection and recycling program in five schools in November of 2013.” Bob Parsons, Willoughby Civic League volunteer, does routine collections at participating schools in the Ocean View area. “Sometimes the kids collect so many bags I hardly have room in the car for myself.” said Bob. By the end of the school year the pilot was deemed a success as over 2000 pounds of plastic were collected and recycled.
Reusable shopping bags are good alternatives to plastic. And making sure every bag is completely full helps too. But for many shoppers plastic bags do provide effective, efficient and convenient ways to get their purchases home. However, Norfolk’s curbside recycling program is not able to handle plastic bags/film in the recycling stream (A universal problem in the recycling industry). Improper disposal of plastic bags is widespread and that causes litter.
The foundation of the pilot was the TREX 2013-14 Plastic Film Recycling Challenge, where schools competed against one another to see who could recycle the most plastic film. The challenge “brings to life” environmental awareness, the importance of recycling, and keeping plastic film from being littered. TREX is a Virginia company that makes furniture and outside decking from recycled plastic that literally lasts a lifetime.
Plastic bags can be recycled (some retailers accept used bags and then recycle them.), but most are placed in our green carts and hauled off to waste incineration steam plants or landfills. As members of Norfolk’s Environmental Commission (NEC) are charged by City Council to lead citizens toward environmental stewardship, tackling the plastic bag litter problem became one of the Commission’s key objectives. “We wanted to reduce litter, recycle the bags and educate citizens, all at the same time.” said Audrey Webb, the NEC’s Chair. “We decided to involve
All participating schools were awarded birdhouses made from recycled bags. Benches were awarded to Willoughby Elementary and Ocean View Elementary for producing extraordinary results. “The staff members here at Willoughby Elementary work hard to relate the real world to our day to day school lessons. The students can see that all the plastic bags we collect get returned to the Farm Fresh and other retailers where they originally came from. Last year recycled bags were made into a great bench which the kids use every day.” said Tracie Kunkel, the school’s mathematics specialist and
science teacher. “And it works for math too. We collected over 500 pounds of bags … and at 82 bags per pound, how many bags came in the door? The kids can tell you it’s more than 40,000!” 17 schools signed up for the program for the 2014-2015 academic year and over 3500 pounds were collected. Nearly 6000 students were exposed to the program. Over 280,000 bags were collected!! Eddie Kennedy, the Farm Fresh warehouse manager at Wards Corner said, “Farm Fresh is an environmentally responsible operation that supports plastic bag and film recycling. Our stores encourage customers to bring plastic bags back so we can recycle them. It’s easy to add the schools collections to our bale of material set for recycling.” NEC Commissioner and teacher at Berkley/Campostella Early Childhood Education Center Phillip Hawkins, Jr. has been active in the program since its inception. His school collected more bags in the last 12 months than any other. “This has been a remarkable team effort;” Phillip said. “Our students get excited when they see the results and parents can’t help getting involved too. The kids become the teachers!” Commissioners Rooney Rosmer and Stephen Leaman want to see even
more schools involved next year. “Our 2015-16 school year target is 5000 pounds from 30 schools.” said Leaman. Rooney wants the schools to go even further. “Plastic bags are a great place to start. But shouldn’t we expect our schools to become models for recycling?” she asked. The NEC would like to see five schools recycle essentially all the eligible cardboard, paper, plastic and metal cans and bottles loaded into the TFC recycle dumpsters … not the trash dumpsters. “This material is hauled away from the schools now. Why not recycle what can be recycled?” Leaman mentioned another reason to get started in October. “It cost materially less to recycle a dumpster load of recyclables than a dumpster load of trash. So these actions reduce litter, save energy, teach good environmental stewardship AND save the schools money. Why not do it?” Why not indeed?
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THE KARAOKE OF GHENT
LOUD & PROUD AT BELMONT WORDS: Brittany Shearer
Recycling Perks loves local businesses. It’s the foundation of recycling rewards in Hampton Roads. We’d like to introduce you to Belmont House of Smoke. They’ve been rewarding recyclers for nearly three years.
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or many, karaoke conjures images of drunk people enthusiastically singing along to dated ballads with little regard for key or pitch. As a karaoke regular at the Belmont House of Smoke, my pleas for karaoke night have been met more often with cringes than shared excitement from my musically-averse friends. Admittedly, the hobby brings out the unapologetically boisterous, which can be grating, particularly in conjunction with off-key, painfully loud singing.
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In Norfolk, however, karaoke has been more than an embarrassing hobby for me. It has been an opportunity to practice failing, meet new people, and participate in a judgment-free community dedicated to bringing out your best self. The key to successful karaoke is to recognize that it isn’t an audition for The Voice. Karaoke does not require musical talent. The drunk kickball team sing-shouting “Tiny Dancer” occupies the same stage as the trained singer from the Virginia Opera, and both are applauded for having the courage to perform in what-
ever state of inebriation they found necessary. “Unconventional” renditions offer a chance to embrace your weaknesses and flaunt your passion. Michael Curbelo, who owns Klass Act Productions, the company that hosts karaoke throughout Ghent, says all types of people can and do participate in karaoke, even the quiet ones. A lot of it has to do with expressing themselves in a way that they can’t on a day-to-day basis,” he said. Many patrons use the stage to take a break from their normal
Klass Act Productions Karaoke Nights Tuesdays: Colley Cantina Wednesdays: Cogan’s Pizza Thursdays: Belmont House of Smoke identity, myself included. I went to karaoke for the first time over a year ago, and while I’ve always considered myself an extrovert, I had a lot of anxiety around public speaking and performance. Karaoke made it easy to embrace the embarrassing moments, and after building up my confidence, I felt comfortable enough to pursue new hobbies on the stage, including improv. While the karaoke experience is what you make of it, Belmont has become my favorite local spot largely because of the people. Curbelo, who goes by DJ Mike Cee on Thursday nights, com-
pares the Norfolk environment to his hometown in New York, noting that, “Ghent... is like the Village, just toned down a little bit. You’ve got a little bit of everything.”
Curbelo explains that the funloving milieu comes from the people, who not only embrace their own performances, but support everyone person who steps on stage.
While Klass Act Productions hosts karaoke at different local bars each night, including Cogan’s Pizza and Colley Cantina, Belmont in particular brings out a variety of different people. After more than a year of regular attendance, I’ve seen office dinners, birthday parties, and a lot of kickball teams, all with an energy that isn’t usually matched by a normal night at the bar.
“The Belmont is my favorite place to do it, hands down, [because of] the crowd - you guys - and that’s because of the relationships there,” he said. “It’s a neighborhood bar, everybody knows each other. There’s so much of that community [atmosphere] there.”
found in Norfolk. It’s entertaining, but it offers an opportunity for personal growth I could not have expected the first time I sang “Love Shack” on the decorated stage. If the prospect of listening to terrible drunk singing isn’t a compelling reason for you to attend, you should try it for the chance to meet a group of charismatic new friends and to learn something new about yourself.
Karaoke night is a fun hobby, but at Belmont, it’s also a reflection of the strong community spirit
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CITY TAKES AIM AT CIGARETTE LITTER
Yep, cigarettes are litter, too, and they’re all over the streets, beaches, and community. Keep Norfolk Beautiful is taking huge strides to clean up the community you live in, but your help is needed. WORDS: Lisa Jennings, Keep Norfolk Beautiful
Norfolk encourages the use of pocket ashtrays. They offer a safe, litter free disposal alternative for smokers.
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Cigarette butts are litter, but they’re also creating a hazard for our marine and wildlife. Keep litter in its place the trash can or ashtray!
Don’t Flick It! Awareness is key. Norfolk hopes to educate on cigarette litter to reduce it.
K
eep Norfolk Beautiful is pleased to be a part of this regional effort to educate the public on smoking product litter. We have known for a long time that cigarette butts are the number one littered item and the most costly to remove due to their small size. The hope of this educational campaign is to dispel the most egregious myths about this particular type of litter. Myth 1 | Filters are biodegradable. This means to break down by a living organism. Filters are plastic so they simply degrade and the plastic breaks into even smaller pieces. In water, these small pieces are mistaken for food by small creatures which
in turn get eaten by bigger crea- Plaza which includes City Hall, a tures including you and me! Light Rail stop and the new court building. Fact sheets, new recepMyth 2 | “My one cigarette butt tacles and both pocket and car is no big deal” – In Virginia 20% ashtrays will be distributed free of the population smokes. At of charge. Picking this location just one small site in downtown will reach a diverse group of citiNorfolk volunteers counted 631 zens and City leaders who can butts and cigar tips. Multiply spread the word about keeping that by all the stop lights and ar- Norfolk beautiful. eas outside restaurants all over Hampton Roads and you get During Keep Norfolk Beautiful more than one. day in April, these awesome volunteers did a scan of the targetThe good news is that smokers ed campaign area at Civic Plaza. respond well to added receptacles, a key strategy for reduc- To learn more: ing this type of litter. Most don’t visit www.norfolk.gov/litter know that butts harm waterways and after learning the facts carry pocket or car ashtray. During the summer Norfolk’s campaign will focus on Civic
Cigarette butts are the most frequently littered item. Tobacco products comprise 38% of all U.S. roadway litter and 30% at “transition points,” places where smokers must discontinue smoking before proceeding. Source: Keep America Beautiful
BEAUTY & SPA
GROCERY
ENTERTAINMENT
HEALTH & FITNESS
AOC Salon The Beauty Parlor by Q + Company The Body Mechanik Massage Studio Trimmers Master Barbershop
Alpha Medical Academy American Rover Sailing Cruises Bob’s Gun Shop Color Me Mine in Norfolk d’ART Center Freemason Inn Bed & Breakfast Hermitage Museum & Gardens Nauticus Norfolk Botanical Garden Ocean View Waterslide The Granby Theater Todd Rosenlieb Dance Vanguard Championship Wrestling Virginia Symphony Orchestra Virginia Zoo in Norfolk
FOOD & DRINK 80/20 Burger Bar Azars Mediterranean Specialties Belmont House of Smoke Borjo Coffeehouse Cafe M Carolina Cupcakery Carry Norfolk Cogan’s Pizza Colley Cantina Cure Coffeehouse and Brasserie Doumar’s Cones and Barbecue Edible Arrangements of Hampton Roads Famous Uncle Al’s Hot Dogs Five Points Community Farm Market Granby Street Pizza HomebrewUSA Johnny’s 24 Hour Diner Kombuchick Moe’s Southwest Grill of Hampton Roads Mojo Bones O’Connor Brewing Co. Perfectly Frank Sabrosa Foods Sai Gai Sushi Sandfiddler Cafe SAVA JAVA, a Redwood Ventures Co. Smartmouth Beer Strawberry Fields Smoothies & Gelato The Birch The Public House The Ten Top Tropical Smoothie Cafe’ in Norfolk
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bottleBOX Farm Fresh Pendulum Fine Meats
1st Down Sports Anytime Fitness Ghent Eagles Self Defense Academy East Coast Bicycles Eyewear Unlimited Fitness Together House of Muay Thai Hund’s Re Cycle Factory Lacey Lee Fitness Norview Family Chiropractic Satya Yoga The Gym Downtown The Space Above Yoga Center Women’s Workout and Fitness Center
SERVICES
757 Creative Space 757 Makerspace Albano Cleaners Cell Phone Repair of Hampton Roads Chelsea Diane Photography Chesapeake Bay Foundation Doody Calls Dycarp Carpet Cleaning Ecovative Energy Fix It Rite PC Kindred Spirit Kustomz Auto Nancy Chandler Associates Nest Home Norfolk Self Storage Norfolk SPCA Portraits by Walt Taylor Proforma Premiere Creations United Networks WaterPlus of Virginia
SHOPPING An Olive & A Grape Bridget’s Good Mojo Greenlife Adventure Sports Hope House Thrift Store Local Heroes Loja Leblon Lorak Jewelry and Gifts Norfolk Fair Trade Co. Pink Zebra Russell’s Music World Taylor’s Do It Center The Book Exchange
Support the businesses who suppo you! All of the rewards on Recyclin Perks are provided by businesses w support recycling in Norfolk.
Log on to RecyclingPerks.com to en roll in your free account and redeem earned recycling points for discoun from these fine establishments.
ort ng who
nm nts
Keep Norfolk Beautiful’s
2015
Great American Cleanup Volunteers
A very special thank you to the organizations listed below for helping us make Norfolk a cleaner and greener place to live, work, and play! More than 1,000 volunteers partnered with Keep Norfolk Beautiful during our 2015 Great American Cleanup program to remove over 29,000 pounds of litter and debris from the City’s streets, parks, school grounds and beaches. Americorps Azalea Lakes / Azalea Acres Civic League Bay Oaks Park Committee Bayview Civic League Boy Scout Troop 381 Chesterfield Heights Civic League Colonial Place / Riverview Civic League Domestic Good East Ocean View Civic League Elizabeth Park Civic League Fairmount Park Civic League General Dynamics NASSCO-Norfolk Granby High School Baseball Teams GreenQuest, LLC Highland Park Civic League Ingleside Civic League
Lafayette Winona Civic League Larchmont School Nat’l Honor Society Calcott Elementary School Meadowbrook Woods Civic League Naval Station Norfolk Naval Support Activity Hampton Roads Newtown South Civic League Norfolk Collegiate School Norfolk Master Gardeners North Camelia Acres Civic League Norview Lions Club Olde Huntersville Civic League Order of the Arrow Cub and Boy Scouts PETA Riverfront Civic League Roland Park Civic League
Roosevelt Area Civic League Single Marine Program South Bayview Civic League Starbucks - Wards Corner Suburban Acres Civic League TCC Student Government Association United States Navy (USN) USN - CSADD USN - USS Kearsarge USN - USS Lincoln Villa Heights Civic League W.H. Taylor Elementary Wards Corner Business Association Wards Corner Civic League Willoughby Civic League YMCA of South Hampton Roads
For information on volunteer opportunities with Keep Norfolk Beautiful, contact us at www.norfolk.gov/knb, knb@norfolk.gov, or 757-441-1347.
CONTAMINATION!
WORDS: Kevin DuBois, City of Norfolk
Recycling is good for the environment and supports “green” jobs for waste collectors, recycling material processors, and companies that sell the recyclable materials to be made into new products.
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Once a profitable business for many cities and private companies, recycling in recent years has become more costly. Aaron Davis of the Washington Post states that “Waste Management and other recyclers say that more than 2,000 municipalities nationwide are paying to dispose of their recyclables instead
of the other way around.” Falling oil prices, a strong dollar, and a weakened Chinese economy have decreased the value of American recyclables. One other factor is playing an increasing part in the loss of value of recyclable material – contamination. There are several sources of contamination. Some people use their recycle bin as an extra trash bin, adding huge amounts of garbage, landscape debris, and other waste to the recycle stream. Some residents, whether confused or with good intentions, have been tossing almost
anything rubber, metal, or plastic into the recycling bin. Recycling Perks (www.recyclingperks.com), a company that provides incentives for recycling, completed a survey and found a significant number of respondents incorrectly said that Styrofoam, wood, batteries, and plastic bags were recyclable in their local curbside program. Promoting ideas like “Recycle More, Trash Less”, governments and environmentalists have attempted to increase recycling rates by promoting larger and
How bad recycling habits threaten the survival of local programs larger blue bins while demanding little or no sorting by residents. “Sorting took time and was messy. No one liked it.” said Davis. So Material Recovery Facilities, or MRF’s, were created to do what residents wouldn’t. MRFs are automated with conveyors, screens, magnets, and other sorting technologies, but all along the separation route, there are also lots of MRF employees trying to remove nonrecyclable contamination to maximize the purity and value of the paper, plastic, and metal they recover. According to Tidewater Fiber Corporation (TFC), the most common non-recyclable contaminants they find are nonrecyclable plastics (bags, plates, cups, silverware, coffee “K-cups” and food containers, packaging, toys, buckets) garden hoses, wire hangers, propane cylinders, yard waste, food-soiled packaging (think pizza box), foam cups and “peanuts”, disposable diapers, food waste, motor oil bottles, and paint cans. Manual sorting by human beings is not 100% effective, especially as large volumes of material are whizzing by on a conveyor belt. Contamination that makes it through the sorting process is bundled and baled with valuable recyclables, lower their value, and can even cause the whole bale to be rejected for not meeting low contamination
standards. In Hampton Roads, the rate of contamination is approximately 18% of the total recycling volume. What’s more, contaminants like hypodermic needles, broken (non-bottle) glass, toxic chemicals, and animal carcasses present a real danger to MRF workers. Plastic bags clog sorting machinery and cause operational shutdowns while the gears, grinders, and sorters are unclogged. David Issacson of the National Council on Occupational Safety and Health said that there have been 17 recent deaths in the recycling industry and that recycling workers are injured at more than twice the rate of the average worker. What you can do MRF’s want to stay in the business of recycling, but they need to make a profit. That means not having to pay extra employees to pick out contamination or suffer lower resale value of recyclables because of contamination. Here’s how you can help maintain recycling services in your municipality: • Visit http://askhrgreen.org/3rs/ for guidance on what can and can’t be recycled in your municipality.
• When in doubt, throw the item in the trash! • Read the Keep America Beautiful report on ways to improve recycling in the workplace http://recyclingatwork.org/ • Take a tour of your local MRF to better understand the contamination problem (ex: http://www. tfcrecycling.com/our-services/ request-tour-our-facilities). • Learn about how to properly dispose of toxic and hazardous waste in your locality. In Norfolk, call 664-6510. • Recycle plastic bags at grocery stores and other businesses that accept them (In Hampton Roads: Farm Fresh, Harris Teeter, Food Lion, etc. http://s7d4.scene7.com/ is/content/Trex/grocery-storesparticipating-in-plastic-film-recyclingpdf.pdf) • Sign up for Recycling Perks (https://www.recyclingperks.com/#/) and earn rewards for recycling right! According to American City and County, reducing contamination and maintaining the value of recyclables – is THE central challenge facing the recycling industry. Citizens are partners with their municipality and their MRF and have a role to play in recycling right!
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RECYCLE
WORDS: Suzie Vance, Recycling Perks
The average school tosses 38 tons of paper (or 8.36 million sheets), the equivalent of 644 trees, each year. Source: All Recycling Facts
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LET IT LIVE ANOTHER DAY
Kids are heading back to school and it’s important to keep recycling and environmental stewardship in mind.
f you’re thinking about throwing
a little planning and creativity we can
the classroom or office for these items.
trash bin. It’s better to put a recyclable
that away, why not let it live an-
all do our part to make our environment
It’s a great way to make sure that every-
item in the trash than contaminate the
other day?
(and our schools) cleaner and greener.
one has what they need and ensure that
recycling bin with something “yucky”.
What are some of the things that you
every item is used.
Too often we throw things away
can do?
If you bring your lunch to school, use a
simply because we don’t want
One of our biggest opportunities to
lunch box instead of paper bags, and remember to keep it clean.
or need them anymore, not because
Classrooms are a great place to practice
prevent waste is in the cafeteria. How
they’re no longer useful. So, what do
reducing waste. When you have a writ-
many times have you been “starving”
you do with it instead?
Well, if it’s
ten report or assignment, use both sides
and piled food on your plate only to
If you have something in your lunch box
something that still has life left in it,
of the paper and use the whole sheet,
realize that your eyes were bigger than
or tray that you don’t want to eat, ask
you can donate it to charity, give it to
including the margins. If your teacher
your stomach? What happened to the
if anyone else would like it. Sharing is
a friend, or give it away online (freecy-
is OK with it, do your assignment online
left over food that you didn’t eat? Did
also a great way to make new friends!
cle.org or Craigslist.org are good local
and email the results to the teacher.
it go in the trash? Probably. Try to take
sources). Every item that continues to
What about all of the things that you do
only what you know you’re going to eat
These are just some of the ways that
be used is an item that isn’t in a landfill.
throw away each day? Having two con-
and there will be far less waste in the
you can help make your school a green-
Extending the useful life of every item is
tainers in the classroom (labeled “trash”
cafeteria. What are some other things
er place. But there is so much more
just one way that we can all contribute
and “recycling”) for discarded items will
that you can do to prevent waste in the
that you can do. The only limit is your
to a “greener” environment. We can do
allow everyone to participate in recy-
cafeteria?
imagination.
this at home, at work and at school.
cling. And don’t forget to reuse school
For instance, you could
start a “recycling club”, where you learn
supplies, like folders and binders, as
It can be as easy as putting trash in
about recycling and then teach others
Speaking of schools; how “green” is
long as they’re useful.
You can also
the trash bin and recycling in the recy-
to recycle. You’ll be an expert in no
your school? Does your school recycle?
create a school supply exchange—if
cling bin. If you’re not sure which bin it
time! If you’re not recycling at home,
Does it reuse or repurpose items? With
you don’t need it, maybe someone else
should go in, ask a teacher or other staff
that’s a great place to start. Norfolk of-
does. You could have a separate bin in
member. Still not sure? Put it in the
fers curbside recycling to about 58,000
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residences. And they can earn valuable
cartons, plastic bottles, rubber bands,
Opportunities to make our world
help YOU make your school a “green”
rewards for recycling!
crayons, bottle caps—the list of things
cleaner and greener are everywhere,
school. Have your teacher or principal
to use is endless! If you have room for
and this generation could be the gen-
call 757-412-7514 or email info@re-
You can also donate used clothes, furni-
a garden at home, this can not only sup-
eration that makes recycling a part of
cyclingperks.com to learn more. And
ture, phones, computers, etc., to chari-
ply you and your family with fresh fruits
everyday life. YOU have the power to
remember “Don’t throw it away; let it
ties. This is great for all of those items
and veggies, but is also a great way to
make a difference. If you’d like to learn
live another day.”
that still have “another day to live”.
learn about the life cycle of plants. If
more, your local Recycling Perks repre-
Make crafts from things that you’d nor-
you’re up for the challenge, you could
sentative is available to speak to your
mally throw away -- get creative! Egg
also have your own composting heap!
class or school about recycling and
BACK TO SCHOOL
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RECYCLED LAUGHS TAKE A BREAK
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