This Wednesday is a “Red Wednesday”, which hopefully means trash and recycling pickup. I say hopefully, because the Central Virginia Waste Management Authority has struggled to maintain its schedule due to a shortage of workers and has missed some pickups recently and had to reschedule. That said, as neighbors, we should do our best to help.
One tool that might help ameliorate the situation if pickup does not come is this online form:
https://cvwma.com/programs/residential-recycling/recycling-service-request-form/
Please go over what can be recycled. Ideally, rolling recycling containers are stored and deployed in the back alleys along with trash cans. Please make sure you pick up containers after pickup tomorrow night.
If you have not done so already, don’t forget to sign up for your Recycling Perks.
In order to take your recycling to the next level, read this: 10 ways to improve your recycling.
In the news, as the Virginia Mercury reports, Virginia took in less trash from out of state in 2021 (but still a lot).
The amount of solid waste Virginia accepted from other states dipped in 2021 compared to the prior year, but the commonwealth still took in more than 5.3 million tons of out-of-state trash.
According to an annual report on solid waste issued by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality Monday, 23.6 percent of the state’s 22.7 million tons of solid waste last year came from other jurisdictions.
In 2020, that proportion was 25.2 percent.
Maryland continued to be the largest contributor of out-of-state waste, giving Virginia facilities almost 2.4 million tons. Other big givers were New York, New Jersey, Washington, D.C. and North Carolina.
Most of that out-of-state waste was municipal solid waste, or the everyday garbage thrown out by households and small businesses.
The Virginia Mercury also had some other good and bad news:
Two recent news stories show that for every small step forward Virginians take to protect the environment, we often take one backward. The net gain is negligible.
Since this is the only planet we occupy, we should do better. Future generations will curse us for our sorry stewardship of the air, water and soil.
First the good: Officials in Virginia Beach, the commonwealth’s largest city, are considering whether to enact a 5-cent tax on disposable plastic bags. The City Council could vote as soon as July on a proposal, The Virginian-Pilot reported.
Plastic bags take forever to break down. Fewer bags would mean less plastic debris in waterways, and reduce the harm to sea life and storm drains. It also would mean less plastic ending up in landfills.
Now the bad: Chesapeake, the state’s second-largest city, will end municipal-run curbside recycling on June 30. The decision will mean – for the first time in more than a quarter-century – public curbside recycling will cease in the city.
Instead, residents can sign up for “subscription-based” recycling services from private companies, costing $11 a month; it will cost even more to recycle glass. Or folks can schlepp their plastics, metal cans, paper and cardboard to about a half-dozen drop-off sites around the city.
There’s no way the participation rate, now around 80 percent, will be anywhere close.
