Project Clean Move Makes A Dent In Student Tenant Trash Problem

This past Saturday, Project Clean Move went into action, cleaning up several piles of student trash. Again, what is significant about this VCU-lead effort is that it proactively makes a point of contacting landlords and tenants and tries to get them involved in solutions.

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This past Saturday, several volunteers helped sort through tenant leftovers and identify furniture and other objects for pickup by charities, as well as work with City trash crew to pick up garbage. The process could have benefited from more volunteers and there were still some problem areas leftover from the weekend. They were noted for enforcement. In some cases, furniture marked for charities was taken and new trashed furniture was left.

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But overall Project Clean Move had a good start. It will need to improve with the next iteration next month. The hope is that this will lead to a change in culture.

Trash/Recycling Pickup Thursday/Project Clean Move Saturday

Normally, this Wednesday is a red Wednesday, which means trash and recycling pickup. But because of the Memorial Day holiday, pickup has been pushed back a day to Thursday. Please make sure you pick up containers after pickup. They do not belong on the sidewalk after Thursday night.

Also, get ready for VCU’s Project Clean Move. In addition to trash cleanups, volunteers will load reusable items to give to nonprofits this Saturday, May 31, from 8 a.m – 12 p.m. Separate your trash and reusable items and leave them out before 8 a.m. The Randolph/Oregon Hill truck will likely handle Randolph from 8-10 and Oregon Hill from 10-12.

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.

Don’t forget Project Clean Move. Speaking of which, this Saturday is the Sierra Club Falls of the James Big Yard Sale at University of Richmond. Here is an just a very small fraction of the stuff being diverted from landfill in preparation for this annual event:
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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…let’s see…I covered ‘Project Clean Move’…I mentioned the upcoming Sierra Club Falls of the James recycling/yard sale at U of R…how about this? While Richmond.com’s Phil Riggan counters skepticism about local recycling, I personally agree with a lot of treehuggers who think that skepticism of recycling is a healthy thing. That said, here in Virginia, business is warming up to recycling in a big way- “Recycle, repurpose, reuse”.

“Project Clean Move” On The Move

As with the recent VCU event Paint The Town Green, VCU should be commended for redoubling its efforts with the City to address public dumping by student renters at the end of school year and lease time. Hopefully messy trash sites will not happen so often in the future. VCU policeman Greg Felton deserves a lot of credit for also getting the word to local landlords.

Oregon Hill may or may not get a dumpster like the one pictured below. If we do, it will likely be on Albemarle Street between S. Cherry and S. Laurel.

From Councilperson Parker Agelasto’s FaceBook page:

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Project Clean Move is operational. On Friday, dumpsters were placed at 4 locations near VCU to facilitate with the significant trash and bulk items resulting from students moving out of their residences. The dumpsters will remain until June 2. Please note that these will be emptied by the City’s Department of Public Works.

Dumpster Locations:
1) N. Plum Street between W. Main Street and Floyd Avenue
2) S. Morris Street between W. Main Street and W. Cary Street
3) N. Morris Street at the corner of Grove Avenue
4) Ryland Street at the corner of Grace Street

All residents are encouraged to use these dumpsters between April 25 and June 2. DPW will still respond to individual bulk pick-up requests as they are received. To report bulk pick-up, please call 311 or use SeeClickFix. If you have items in good condition, please also contact CARITAS Furniture Bank or Goodwill to donate them rather than adding to a land fill.

That last part is important. For VCU to continue to improve its sustainability efforts, it needs to get more students’ belongings recycled. The Sierra Club Falls of the James has helped University of Richmond do this through its Big Yard Sale (coming up this year on May 17th), but its understand able that VCU (and Virginia Union and other schools) may need to come up with its own model.

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

On March 26, 2014, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) announced publication of the latest annual Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), covering data reported for 2012. This year’s report lists types and amounts of chemicals released and reported by 419 industrial operations in the Commonwealth having 10 or more employees and reaching specific minimum amounts of toxic chemicals used (see p. 2 in the this year’s report Introduction for the list of criteria determining which operations must report).

According to the DEQ’s 3/26/14 news release on the TRI report, “32.7 million pounds of chemicals were released on-site to the air, water and land (a decrease of 16.7 percent from 2011); 65.3 million pounds of chemicals were transferred off-site for treatment, recycling, energy recovery or disposal (a 5-percent decrease from 2011); [and] 775 million pounds of chemicals were managed on-site by treatment, recycling, or energy recovery (a 3-percent increase from 2011).”

A more pointed point of view comes from a January 2014 study conducted by the University of Richmond’s School of Law- Robert R. Merhige Jr. Center for Environmental Studies: “A Strategy to Protect Virginians from Toxic Chemicals”.

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.

VCU, University of Richmond, and other schools are currently competing in RecycleMania 2014.

In other recycling news, a group of recycling companies is pitching a large processing complex on land next to the Elizabeth River in Chesapeake, VA.

Trash/Recycling Pickup Tomorrow (Maybe)

This Wednesday is a red Wednesday, which means trash and recycling pickup. But don’t be surprised if there is a delay in pickup due to the recent weather. Regardless, please make sure you pick up containers after pickup. They do not belong on the sidewalk after pickup.

VCU, University of Richmond, and other schools are currently competing in RecycleMania 2014.

There was a very interesting discussion about City recycling at a recent City Council Finance Committee meeting about the possibility of going to 96 gallon recycling containers in the future.