Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 10, 1995 TAG: 9507100144
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Last month, the mall hired BFI Handy Dump to set up a cardboard recycling program, said BFI sales manager Kimberly Smith. Each year, the mall generates about 1,000 tons of garbage. Between 30 and 40 percent of that is cardboard, which had previously been dumped in the Roanoke Regional Landfill.
"When you think about it, all the retail stores, they get all their stock in cardboard," Smith said.
BFI will install six compactors at the mall, pick up the crunched cardboard and take it to the company's recycling facility on 24th Street. From there, the waste will be taken to area mills that use recycled material in their product, Smith said.
Valley View may eventually expand its program to include computer paper and mixed paper, and set up drop-off recycling boxes for cans and bottles for its customers, Smith said.
BFI set up a similar program at Tanglewood Mall in November, recylcing 30 to 35 percent of the mall's total waste stream, mostly cardboard and some mixed paper.
DEQ wants to lift burn bans
The state Department of Environmental Quality has proposed dropping regulations on open burning, hoping local governments will pick up the responsibility.
The department's air division wants to drop prohibitions against:
Burning leaves and garden trimmings less than 500 feet from an occupied building.
Burning kitchen scraps, animal carcasses or wastes less than 300 feet from an occupied building.
Burning garbage at a landfill (unless methane gas is present)
Burning under certain conditions without a permit from the state.
"The main reason behind this is because the need [for open burning] varies from locality to locality," said DEQ policy analyst Kathleen Sands. She added that enforcing the state rules are burdensome on the short-staffed state agency, and could be better handled at the local level.
The DEQ is encouraging localities to tailor the agency's model open-burning ordinance to their own needs, Sands said. The idea was originally developed under a commission on efficient government formed under former Gov. Gerald Baliles.
Citizens are asked to comment on the proposal by August 28 by fax or mail, or at one of two public hearings scheduled in Richmond and Prince William County. Call Sands at (804) 762-4413 for more information. Send comments to: Manager, Air Programs Section, DEQ, PO Box 10009, Richmond, 23240.
Phone book frenzy
The Roanoke Valley recycled more phone books this year than ever before, turning in 52.9 tons of the directories.
Sponsored by Clean Valley Council, Kroger Co., Waste Management Inc. and Bell Atlantic, the collection program focused on elementary school children.
Hallie Davis of Fishburn Park Magnet School turned in the most books - 2,331, to be exact - and won a Caller ID phone set from Bell Atlantic.
Edward Umberger, also of Fishburn, won the same prize for turning in the oldest book - dated 1963.
Wasena Elementary School student Michael Brinkley and Hidden Valley Middle School student Jonathan Willet, respectively, turned in the second and third highest number of books.
Eco-award for watershed protection
The Valley Conservation Council received a grant to study watersheds in the 11-county region from Winchester to Roanoke. The Staunton-based group will compile land use and water quality information and maps to identify three critical watersheds.
The group plans to offer farmers and other landowners in those three areas financial assistance to set up conservation easements - legal documents that preserve land in perpetuity according to the present landowner's wishes.
The group received $13,000 from the Virginia Environmental Endowment to help with the project, which is funded by other sources as well.
The endowment, which stresses education and sustainable development to protect Virginia's economy and environment, also gave the following grants earlier this year:
$20,000 to a teacher-training program developed at Virginia Tech. Some 200 teachers are enrolled this summer at Tech and other state universities in graduate programs to help them better understand the economic and environmental principles underlying sustainable development.
$100,000 over two years to assist The Nature Conservancy in developing sustainable business opportunities in the Clinch Valley Bioreserve - a lush area covering several Southwest Virginia and Tennessee counties that is home to one of the highest concentrations of globally endangered species .
The Nature Conservancy is focusing on wood products, agriculture, nature tourism and coal remining as potential sustainable industries.
$100,000 over two years to the Southern Environmental Law Center in Charlottesville. The center works with a broad coalition of groups to defend Virginia's environmental laws and strengthen citizens' understandings of the environment.
A key focus in recent years has been to improve citizen "standing" - the right of citizens to challenge in court water pollution and air pollution permits issued by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.
by CNB