Virginia Beach Public Schools Win Recycling Competition

Virginia Beach City Public Schools has been awarded the 2007 Virginia Recycling Association Award for Excellence in the Government/Nonprofit category.

Awarded by the Virginia Recycling Associations (VRA), the school division is nominated by Tidewater Fiber Corp (TFC Recycling) for its commitment to recycling and innovative and quality recycling programs.

Recycling an average of 123 tons of material per month, the school division’s expanded recycling program catapulted into full force in September of 2006. Each of the school’s 4,500 classrooms is equipped with a recycling bin used for disposal of paper products, aluminum and steel, plastics and glass. These bins are collected daily by 719 custodians working morning, afternoon and evening hours in the school division’s 87 schools and office buildings.

“TFC Recycling helped the school division expand our existing recycling program by arranging a flexible pick-up schedule to accommodate the tremendous amount of recyclable material that is generated in our schools every day,” says John Kalocay, assistant superintendent of administrative support services. “It is gratifying to know that Virginia Beach City Public Schools has been recognized as a leader in Virginia for making a positive contribution to our environment through its recycling efforts, while setting a positive example to our students and staff.”

In addition to recycling products from the classroom, the school division is a champion of recycling office supplies such as printer cartridges, light bulbs and cafeteria products, including plastic milk containers referred to as “chugs.” Between 700,000 to 800,000 chugs are recycled each month.

“The Virginia Beach City Public Schools are to be congratulated for their tremendous efforts in recycling. Their leadership and teamwork have encouraged many other school systems to take a good look at recycling and environmental education. We applaud their hard work. Each student, teacher, custodial team member and administrator is an essential park of the ‘Green Team’ and each contributes to the success for the whole program,” says Michael Benedetto, vice president and owner of TFC Recycling.