Recycling is Up in VA

A few days ago, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) released its 2009 annual report on recycling activity in the state and the news is good -- people and businesses in the Old Dominion continue to recycle more and more each year, but the increase is slow. According to the report, the recycling rate in the state was 38.6 percent, up from 38.5 percent in 2008, and up from 29.8 percent in 2004.

So while the numbers are trending upward, peeling back the report reveals that the more toxic products that might find their way into our soil and water are being recycled in greater numbers, but the easy products -- paper, metal and glass -- are being recycled less.

Specifically, the 2009 DEQ report showed that used oil, oil filters and anti-freeze and electronics (the stuff that's really bad if leached into soil and water) is being recycled. Details on how to recycle motor oil there are helpful tips on the American Petroleum Institute's website. (Never thought that I'd promote the API, but at least here it's doing good work.) It's the law in Virginia for shops that change motor oil to recycle it. A quick scan of your bill shows the cost, usually a few bucks.

This holiday season, as millions of us pop into and out of stores like Best Buy and Staples, we should remember that these retailers have drop-off recycling. Using them is about as easy as walking through a door and handing old electronics to an employee or dropping a phone into a bin inside the door.

Another great thing to consider at Christmas and other gift giving time, is cleaning out your old stuff in a responsible and recycling way to make room for all of the new goodies that you're hoping to get or just buying for yourself. A few months back I noted that Goodwill Industries might be called the first large-scale recycling organization. Drop off your stuff that is in reasonably good condition and it and other thrift stores will make it available to a person who could really use it.