COMMUNITY CELEBRATION
Making Recycling Exciting Again with the
AMERICA RECYCLES Outreach Program
By Kelley B. Hope
OUR ACTIONS CAN MAKE
A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE
A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE
AMERICA RECYCLES is a nationwide campaign
to educate and excite the public about recycling. Although it
can be celebrated all year, the festivities intensify each fall
and conclude on November 15th with a national pledge contest.
As the AMERICA RECYCLES website encourages visitors,
“Your attitude, your actions, can make a world of
difference. Let’s each do our part. Because almost
everything can be recycled except the planet.”
Public Information Assistant for the CVWMA
applied temporary “tattoos” that had the message
“Recycling is Cool!” at the America Recycles
Festival in Richmond.
t’s a
simple act really, putting a soda can or newspaper into a
recycling bin instead of into the kitchen trashcan. Some of us
do it because it helps us feel better about our impact on the
environment. Others do it because it was the way we were
raised. Whether we place our items at the curb for collection,
or make an extra stop at the local recycling center while
running errands, recycling is a behavior that has positive
returns today and for the future.
Recycling comes back to us in an improved
environment, the preservation of resources and economic well
being. On every visit to the grocery store, recycled products
end up in the cart and make their way into our homes, in the
way of food and beverage packaging. Most of us experience
recycled products daily without really knowing, whether in the
carpet under our feet or the paper we feed into the copier
machine. Some consciously choose recycled products like chipped
tire “mulch” to lessen our demand on the
Earth’s resources.
The author is the director of public
affairs for the Central Virginia Waste Management Authority in
Richmond, and is also Virginia’s AMERICA RECYCLES
coordinator, as well as president of the Virginia Recycling
Association.
Now in its ninth year, the program enjoys
support across the US, with 1,400 events held in 46 states and
the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands
in 2004. President George W. Bush signed a national
proclamation declaring
last November 15th as AMERICA RECYCLES Day.
last November 15th as AMERICA RECYCLES Day.
The appeal of AMERICA RECYCLES is that it
offers citizens another incentive, beyond the warm and fuzzy
environmental reasons, to recycle—that is, fun events and
prizes. Although recycling makes economic and environmental
sense, everyone