WASHINGTON, D.C. – The 2010 American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) Community Recycling Award will be presented to the City of Virginia Beach today. The annual awards recognize 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 percent 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 an impressive 67 percent 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.
“This comes at an exciting time, when paper recovery has reached record highs in the U.S. In 2009, 63.4 percent of all paper consumed in the U.S. was recovered for recycling, exceeding the industry goal three years earlier than planned,” said AF&PA President and CEO Donna Harman. “Efforts like the Virginia Beach program recognized today serve as great examples of the ongoing commitment of the American people to this important environmental success story.”
Congressman Glenn Nye (VA-02) praised the community for their outstanding efforts and said, "Families here in Virginia Beach understand how important it is to protect our environment through recycling, and we know that individual steps like recycling paper at our homes and businesses can have a huge impact. I'm proud that Virginia Beach has been able to set a strong example for the nation."
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