Trash/Recycling Pickup Tomorrow

This Wednesday is a red Wednesday, which means trash and recycling pickup. Please make sure you pick up containers after pickup tomorrow night. They do not belong on the sidewalk after tomorrow night.

In recycling news, recycling company Newark Group VP Jonathan Gold offers views on single-stream collection and processing at a Congressional hearing.

“As an industry, we now collect two-thirds of all paper available for recycling and have increased the recycling rate for paper by 81 percent over the past 20 years,” said Gold in his testimony. “Despite this, there is still an enormous amount of paper that is not being collected and there remains quite a bit of misinformation in the data that suggests that more of what is collected for recycling is actually used in the creation of new products. That’s where the need for better information enters.”

In commenting about the practice of single-stream recycling, Gold remarked that recovered single-stream recyclables often contain materials that contaminate the usability of the paper. “The EPA does the best job they can at the moment in reporting on the tonnage of collected recyclables, but information isn’t really available to them regarding how much of that tonnage is later diverted to landfills. Better information on this could impact future decisions regarding single vs. dual stream recycling while leading to better solutions to maximize sustainability and continue the kind of economic job growth that results from new product development of recycled materials,” Gold stated.

MoveToAmend.org Comes To Richmond

I am marking this ‘editorial’, since full disclosure, I wrote the following press release also. Unfortunately, I have not seen any notice of this is in the corporate, mainstream media, so as a public service, I am posting it here. I will delete this post if I see good notice and coverage appear elsewhere.

Virginia Greens Speak Up Against Corporations And Look Forward To Cobb’s Visit

by Scott Burger

Green Party of Virginia

http://vagreenparty.org/

For immediate release:

July 9, 2012

With Fourth of July holiday celebrations over, Greens across Virginia are eager to work towards freeing their government from the undue influence of corporations. This should come as no surprise as the Green Party of the United States has actively called for repeal of ‘corporate personhood’ and the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling as well as an end to the influence of corporate PAC money on elections.

On May 4 of this year, the Green Party of Virginia adopted the following resolution at a regularly scheduled meeting:

RESOLVED, the Green Party of Virginia stands in defense of democracy from the corrupting effects of undue corporate power by calling for amending the United States Constitution to establish that:
1. Corporations may neither claim for themselves nor limit the rights of persons or of citizens;
2. The right to spend money or direct economic resources to influence elections, legislation, or the decisions of government is not unlimited.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we encourage our local, state and federal representatives, as well as organizations that value the health of democracy, to enact resolutions and legislation to advance this effort.

As part of these efforts, Greens are looking forward to an upcoming visit to the Southeast by 2004 Green Party Presidential candidate David Cobb on behalf of the citizens’ organization, MoveToAmend.org. Cobb deserves recognition for not only his electoral efforts, but his civil rights protest of the vote tampering in Ohio.

Cobb will be in Richmond, VA on Wednesday, July 11 at 7:30 pm at the Friends Meeting Hall, located at 4500 Kensington Ave, Richmond, Virginia 23221-1827.

After that, Cobb will be attending the Green Party National Convention in Baltimore.

For more information on Cobb’s tour schedule, please check MoveToAmend.org’s Campaign Calendar.

~END~

Byrd House Market This Afternoon

From the Byrd House Market blog:

A Cool 86 Degrees…
– Market Map and Product Search under “For Market Goers” tab… Stanley Rayfield is back to draw your face! Nadine Delano draws ON your face! Freeman High intern (Jodie) will draw you to your favorite vendor – just ask! Natasha will give you tokens for “swiping” your SNAP/CC/Debit card! Shop, eat, drink, relax, enjoy – your pantry, your tummy, your mind’s eye view on the world will thank you.

Visit the Farmlet
– a learning laboratory and “we feed our community” project! a greenhouse under construction! a scarecrow guarding the gourds! a second childhood paradise!

Raffles and Massage? Yes!
Byrd Farm Raffle for the market and is this week’s featured vendor for Masseuse Robin Raver’s weekly special offer: For every $10 you spend you get 1 minute of chair massage! Different vendor every week! Support them all!

First Tuesday Films: Urban Roots
Great film, moving and pragmatic! Goodies from the market and a great conversation with our guests Duron Chavis about McDonough Community Garden and John Lewis of Renew Richmond about food access, urban self-sufficiency, commitment and good food. Join us for next month’s film, and stay tuned to find out what it will be!

Cooking Class Returns
Visit EatGoodGrowGreat.blogspot.com to register by July 18! Honduran Tamales con Pollo and Something Cool to drink from the Farmlet!

This Week and Every Week ! with You !
Facepainting, Storytelling, Great Food, Great Shade, Great Nutrition, Great People!

Check out a slideshow from last week’s BHM by clicking here.