Tomorrow is a “Red Wednesday”, which means trash and recycling pickup.

Please go over what can be recycled.

NOTE: CVWMA (Central Virginia Waste Management Authority) has announced that all curbside recycling must now be INSIDE the CVWMA containers with lid closed. Items beside the container or on top of it will not be collected. In fact, incorrect setouts may not be collected at all. This is new as of July 1 for all our curbside recyclers, with the exception of townhomes/condos still using small bins. (And yes, this also applies to flattened cardboard boxes.)

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 it seems like pickup did not happen, use this online form:
https://cvwma.com/programs/residential-recycling/recycling-service-request-form/

In order to take your recycling to the next level, read this: 10 ways to improve your recycling.

In recycling news, West Virginia University researchers are exploring whether microwave technology can recover high yields of propylene from polypropylene plastic scrap.

From the Recycling Today article:

“We need to diversify our strategies for dealing with America’s abundant plastic waste,” says Wang, an assistant professor at WVU. “Currently, polypropylene has a notably low recovery rate of only 1 percent, meaning 99 percent of polypropylene products become garbage. We want to change that by using microwave irradiation to recover propylene from polypropylene.”

“The world produces more polypropylene than any other plastic resin except polyethylene,” WVU adds. “It’s found in kitchenware, sports equipment, bleach bottles, pipes, battery casings, medical devices, textiles and more.”

According to the research team, most PP products are single-use plastics, including to-go beverage cups. “Almost all of them eventually end up as trash, filling landfills or polluting the environment,” WVU says.