R ECYC L E g r e at e r r i c h m o n d , 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 g r e at e r r i c h m o n d ? 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 s f r e e m a n @ r e c yc l i n g p e r k s . c o m
3 RECYCLING RULES Quick 3-step process to recycling right and taking advantage of your city’s recycling program.
4 BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT A spotlight on Fruit Fixed, a Carytown business giving your electronics a lifeline.
6 NO BUTTS ABOUT IT Cigarettes are litter, too. Be part of the solution and dispose of butts properly.
7 MAILBOX DIET Part of R-R-R is reducing Learn how to eliminate unwanted junk mail.
8 RECYCLING REWARDS Check out a complete list of discounts available to reward your recycling efforts from fabulous local establishments.
10 GET OUT IN RVA Visit with your neighbors and be part of the community at local events around town.
12 DO YOU CONTAMINATE? Contaminated recycling means more costly processing and possibly more expensive service.
13 RECYCLING INCENTIVES Learn a bit about your recycling incentives, what to Recycle Richmond 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 for recycling with discounts and freebies.
recycle, and how to participate as a business.
14 BACK TO SCHOOL It’s time to head back to school, but not without remembering to keep it green.
YOUR RICHMOND TEAM Shannon Freeman | sfreeman@recyclingperks.com 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.
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LOCAL BUSINESS
FRUIT FIXED WORDS: Shannon Freeman, Recycling Perks
Recycling Perks loves local businesses. It’s the foundation of recycling rewards in Richmond. We’d like to introduce you to Fruit Fixed. They’re new to rewarding recyclers, so show them some love and redeem your points from Justin.
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any of us have done it. It’s terrible when it happens! That cell phone slips out of your hands or falls out of your pocket and now you’ve cracked the screen. When this happened to Justin Carroll there weren’t really any affordable options to get a cracked screen on an iPhone fixed. He thought, there has to be a better way! With that in mind he set out to learn how to repair the screen on his own. Soon family and friends were asking him to fix their iphones, ipads, tablets, laptops and more. The concept of Fruit Fixed was born. Justin Carroll CEO and founder of Fruit Fixed currently owns one store in Colonial
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Heights where he grew up and a store in Carytown not to far from where he and his family live in Richmond. He’s grateful for the support from family, friends and his customers, and is always looking for opportunities to better the communities he serves. Fruit Fixed does more than repair electronic devices, they go one step further. Have you ever wondered where all those cracked screens and broken parts go? Justin wasn’t comfortable with the thought of them ending up in the trash because it’s important to him to be good to our environment. Fruit Fixed recycles the components from the devices they repair. The cracked screens, the batteries and all the
parts in between won’t end up in a landfill when you take them to Fruit Fixed. Justin not only cares about the environment but his community as well. He believes that everyone deserves an opportunity to further their education. He put this belief into action by creating a scholarship through Fruit Fixed. The first scholarship was awarded to a long time employee to study abroad. In the future he hopes to continue similar missions through Fruit Fixed. As Fruit Fixed grows and expands Justin hopes to help business owners as well. Many companies have closets full of broken iPads, tablets, laptops and other com-
Recycling just one time gives you enough points to redeem a discount for $10 off your repair or 20% off an accessory.
puter equipment. They sit unused or even worse, end up in a landfill. Most businesses simply replace rather than repair which can be costly. Fruit Fixed is working towards creating a program to economically repair these items for businesses instead of replacing them or throwing them away. When Justin isn’t at Fruit Fixed he’s at home in Richmond with his family. Even at home recycling is an important part of their daily lives. He is thrilled to be a part of the Recycling Perks pro-
gram both as a Reward Partner and as a member of the community in Richmond. The new 95 gallon cart makes it easier for his family to do the right thing and recycle! If you’re in RVA and find yourself in the need for a cell phone or other electronic fix please visit Fruit Fixed in Carytown. You’ll not only get great service but you’ll know the work is being done by a local company who cares about the environment and the community. 3451 W. Cary St. 804-586-9482 www.fruitfixed.com
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ost smokers who would never consider tossing a can or paper cup out of their car window or onto the ground, will carelessly “flick” their cigarette and cigar butts. Sadly, since smokers have been asked to take it outdoors, it is estimated that as much as 75% of all cigarette butts end up inappropriately disposed in our environment as litter! Tobacco products, including cigarette and cigar butts, are the most-littered item in America, representing nearly 38 percent of all items littered, according to “Litter in America,” the Keep America Beautiful landmark study of litter and littering behavior.
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Although cigarette butts are the smallest pieces of litter, they accumulate in corners, gutters and recreation areas. They are easily carried by rain into local waterways where they endanger marine life. Cigarette filters contain a form of plastic that does not biodegrade and persists in the environment for years. They are costly to clean up and businesses, property owners and municipalities bear the expense of cleanup. Keep America Beautiful has found that 63% of cigarette butt littering is attributable to individual motivations. Mostly, it’s lack of awareness about the environmental impact and insufficient ash receptacles. New ordinances are also moving more smokers outdoors or to designated areas, and over the
past decade auto makers have phased out ash trays as a standard feature in new cars. What can you do? Start in your neighborhood by looking around and identifying the places were butts acculumate. Organize a few neighbors and start a group clean up. Then, share your results with your civic association or neighborhood league to help further address the issue. If you’re a smoker, consider acquiring a pocket ashtray to hold butts while in transit then dispose of them in a waste bin. Many city litter preventation programs have free pocket ashtrays available for residents. And, educate other smokers you see littering with cigarette butts. Be a champion for change!
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
REDUCE WASTE
JUNK MAIL & PHONE BOOKS Did you know that you have the option to opt out & to remove your name from unwanted mail and phone book deliveries? By signing up to opt out, you will help to reduce the waste and resources. You can opt out of receiving phone books by visiting yellowpagesoptout.com and entering your zip code and selecting the phone books that you wish not to receive. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) you have the right to opt out for 5 years or permanently opt out for “junk mail�. If you do not wish to receive unsolicited mail, including preapprovals for credit cards or loans, you can request to opt out of receiving these offers. During the opt out process you will be asked to provide personal information, which is confidential and will only be used to process the opt out request. To opt out of junk mail, please use the information below. Credit Card/Loan Offers Opt Out: Toll-free 1-888-567-8688 www.optoutprescreen.com
Direct Mail Opt Out: www.dmachoice.org Direct Marketing Association, P.O. Box 643, Carmel, NY 10512
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BEAUTY & SPA
FOOD & DRINK
HOME & GARDEN
A New You Wellness Center Andres’ Day Spa and Gifts Galore Bardos Massage and Wellness David Madison Massage Felicia’s Fabulous Nails Gentle Hands Massage Heavenly Handed Spa Services Kneading Therapy Natural Elegance Haircare Studio Perception Organic Salon and Spa Sacred Waters Holistic Spa
Mexico Restaurant Moe’s Southwest Grill of Richmond Padow’s Hams & Deli Pepe’s Mexican Restaurant Pizza Express Postbellum Regency Family Restaurant Social52 Tropical Smoothie Cafe’ in Richmond Tuckahoe Seafood
Appliances on Lakeside Perfect Clean Sneed’s Nursery & Garden Center
ENTERTAINMENT Color Me Mine in Richmond ComedySportz® Richmond Eerie Nights Ghost Tours G-Force Karts Kayak Richmond Laser Quest Richmond Richmond History Tours Richmond Kickers Rigby’s Jig River City Segs Science Museum of Virginia The John Marshall House The Laurianda Clothing Company The Valentine Museum Zero Gravity Bungee Trampoline
FOOD & DRINK Argyle Cupcakes Balkan Restaurant Carytown Burgers and Fries Christian’s Pizza Dixie Donuts Edible Arrangements Richmond Family Secrets Lucy’s
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GROCERY Dominion Harvest Ellwood Thompson’s Farm Fresh Farm Table Lakeside Farmers’ Market Little House Green Grocery Relay Foods
HEALTH & FITNESS Crunch Dance Masters DSTinction Fitness Ericka J. Fitness Girya Garage Kettlebell Cross-Training Glatter Fitness Incite Fitness Jazzercise Fitness Center Kia Potts Zumba Next Level Fitness Onward Fitness Purify Richmond Balance Richmond City Yoga Shockoe Bottom CrossFit Summit Fitness Waitkus Counseling Group YogaHikes
SERVICES A-1 Door Company Aloha Mind Math Animal Motel BVisionMedia (BVM) Companion Extraordinaire Crittertown BathHouse Fast Fix Jewelry and Watch Repair First Capital Bank Frame Nation Fruit Fixed Merrymaker Fine Paper nTelos Staples Mill RVA Wireless Seredni Tire and Auto Center The Mosquito Authority of Richmond theNeatNiche Veterans Cleaning Services vetXpress Window Genie of Richmond
SHOPPING AlterNatives Boutique Cartridge World CaryTown Teas Elements of Carytown Fleet Feet Sports Flip Flop Shops Halcyon Vintage Kids Grow McAdoos’ Vintage, Thrift & Collectibles Peace Pieces Plato’s Closet Richmond Stories Comics The Olive Oil Taproom T-Shirt Studio Twig Urban Interiors Whispers of Time
Support the businesses who support you! All of the rewards on Recycling Perks are provided by businesses who support recycling in Richmond. Log on to RecyclingPerks.com to enroll in your free account and redeem earned recycling points for discounts from these fine establishments.
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August SCIENCE ON 2 WHEELS Science Museum of Virginia, $11 (or use your Perks reward for BOGO), now through 9/27/15
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FIRST FRIDAYS ART WALK Downtown Richmond, 5-9 pm, FREE
8/14 25TH FAMILY REUNION Abner Clay Park, 4-11 pm, 2-day event, FREE
8/16 RVA BREW-B-Q FESTIVAL 17th Street Farmers’ Market, 12-5 pm, FREE
September 9/1 PADDLING ON THE JAMES Great Shiplock Park, 6-8 pm, FREE
9/4 FIRST FRIDAYS ART WALK Downtown Richmond, 5-9 pm, FREE
9/13 SHOCKOE ON THE HALF SHELL 17th Street Farmers’ Market, 12-5 pm, FREE
9/17 PADDLING ON THE JAMES Great Shiplock Park, 6-8 pm, FREE
9/10 VCU FILM FESTIVAL Multiple locations for festival events. 3-day event, visit http:// wp.vcu.edu/sff/ for all details. Most events are FREE.
9/19 UCI ROAD WORLD CHAMP. Sept 19-27, Throughout Richmond, FREE
9/12 JAMES RIVER CLEAN UP 14 locations, 9 am to Noon, visit jamesriverassociation.org, FREE.
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Get Out InRICHMOND
October
10/2 FIRST FRIDAYS ART WALK
Downtown Richmond, 5-9 pm, Free
10/4 JIMMY DEAN MUSIC FEST Carpenter Theatre, 7-9 pm, $$
10/18 CHICKEN WING FESTIVAL 17th Street Farmers’ Market, 12-5 pm, FREE
ONGOING EVENTS RVA PARKS & RECREATION Programs for all ages all over town. Check out www.richmond.gov/parks for a complete schedule.
RVA PUBLIC LIBRARIES Programs for all ages all over town. Check out richmondpubliclibrary.org for a complete list by branch and day.
ARE YOU DOING YOUR PART to recycle right and reduce contamination?
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. 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
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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 bins while demanding little or no into the recycling bin. sorting by residents. “Sorting took time and was messy. No one liked Recycling Perks (www.recycling- it.” said Davis. So Material Recovery perks.com), a company that pro- Facilities, or MRF’s, were created to vides incentives for recycling, do what residents wouldn’t. completed a survey and found a significant number of respondents MRFs are automated with conveyincorrectly said that Styrofoam, ors, screens, magnets, and other wood, batteries, and plastic bags sorting technologies, but all along were recyclable in their local curb- the separation route, there are also side program. lots of MRF employees trying to remove non-recyclable contamination Promoting ideas like “Recycle to maximize the purity and value of More, Trash Less”, governments the paper, plastic, and metal they and environmentalists have at- recover. tempted to increase recycling rates by promoting larger and larger blue (continued)
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. I What’s more, contaminants like hypodermic needles, broken (nonbottle) 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: Follow the guide provided on page 6 to assure you’re recycling right. 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 Learn about how to properly dispose of toxic and hazardous waste in your locality. Recycle plastic bags at grocery stores and other businesses that accept them Sign up for Recycling Perks 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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BACK TO SCHOOL WORDS: Erin Podbeilniak, theNeatNiche
The average school tosses 38 tons of paper (or 8.36 million sheets), the equivalent of 644 trees, each year. Source: All Recycling Facts
1. PLAN AHEAD As you’ve surely noticed, your kids bring home many types of paperwork from school. Whether you’re ready or
GET ORGANIZED WITH 3 EASY TIPS
Kids are heading back to school and you’ll likely need a bit of help organizing the piles of papers coming home
help you out! Consider including a label
do a quick check his or her backpack for
find in the “Mom & Dad” folder. Papers
on it that says “For Mommy and Daddy”
anything that might have fallen out or
that fall into this category are usually
to make it stand out even more. Show
escaped the folder. This is also a great
rather obvious – permission slips that
your child where their folder should be
opportunity talk to your child about his
need to be signed, checks to be writ-
kept – in the front of her binder, always
or her day and find out about home-
ten, forms to fill out and send back, etc.
in his backpack, etc. You want a place
work assignments. This daily check-in
These papers can be dealt with quickly,
that’s hard to miss. You will of course
will only take a few minutes, but stay-
so it’s in your best interest to handle
need to remain on the lookout for items
ing on top will make a huge difference
them immediately. Then return them to
that escape your child’s notice or don’t
in keeping up with what’s going on in
the folder to go back to school. Done!
fit in the folder, but this should be your
your child’s world at school and avoid-
go-to starting place for important pa-
ing missing forms, permission slips, and
Informative | Informative papers con-
pers.
other papers.
tain information that is currently rel-
2. STAY ON TOP
3. KEEP IT STRAIGHT
not – those papers keep on coming. To
evant or may become relevant over the course of the school year. These are papers you’ll want to look back at later
ensure your child shows you the papers
All those papers can easily become an
Each type of paper brought home from
– school policies, class schedules, sport
you need to see, give your child a spe-
avalanche if you miss even a day or two.
school requires a different kind of ac-
team rosters, important phone rosters,
cific folder for things that should come
Stay on top of the incoming papers by
tion, so first sort incoming papers into
etc. An easy way to keep these papers
home to mom and dad. Make it a special
establishing a daily routine to deal with
the following categories.
corralled is to create a family binder:
folder – brightly colored, with his or her
the influx. Set up a time of day for you
favorite cartoon on it, anything that will
and your child to go through what he
Action | Action papers require (no sur-
of a central binder into which his or her
entice your child to use this folder will
or she has brought home for the day.
prise here) immediate action. In theory
papers always go (three-hole punched
Empty out the “Mom & Dad” folder, and
these papers should be the ones you
or in page protectors). Anytime you
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each family member has one section
need information regarding that family
evolving display in your child’s room or
What the Heck Do I Do With THIS? | Last-
information that is currently relevant,
member, you know just where to look.
play room by wallpapering artwork di-
ly are the papers that seem to serve no
but they might be useful in the future.
rectly on the wall.
immediate purpose and don’t provide
Notes from an old test, already-graded
Artful Masterpieces | Every child is a
papers, or any of the other random
budding Monet – or so it seems from
schoolwork that comes home should
the incessant influx of artwork coming
be kept at least for a while. Keep these
home from school. The refrigerator is
papers in one place – a large accordion
a frequent go-to because it is easy to
file, a plastic (labeled!) tub or banker’s
swap new artwork for older pieces, but
box, a file cabinet, or any other large
it offers limited surface space, and it
container will work for this purpose.
starts looking cluttered quickly. Instead,
Separate into smaller categories if you
get creative – use ribbons and clothes-
prefer – tests, notes, homework, etc. At
pins or wire and metal clips to make a
least once or twice a school year, revisit
hanging gallery in your child’s room or
the box. As time passes, you’ll be better
play room. Get your child involved by
able to make a decision on whether to
letting him or her select which pieces
keep or toss them. We hope this how-
to keep and which to swap out as new
to guide on managing school papers
art comes home. Send select pieces, or
helps to make this year an organized
older pieces, to relatives. Save space
one. A cluttered space equals a clut-
by scanning drawings and paintings in-
tered mind – so set your family up for
stead of keeping the originals. If you’re
success from the start!
artsy yourself, you can even create an
ORGANIZING SPECIALIST ERIN PODBEILNIAK
Organizing Specialist Erin Podbielniak of theNeatNiche strives to help her clients lead easier, less stressful, and more productive lives. It is her desire to see each of her clients embrace organization as a tool that helps them clear out the piles, let go of stress, and fill up their lives with what matters - faith, family, and friends. For more information, please visit her on the Web at theneatniche.com or on Facebook at facebook.com/theneatniche.
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RECYCLED LAUGHS TAKE A BREAK
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