FEATURED EVENTS
GREAT AMERICAN CLEANUP, SEPTEMBER 18-19
The Great American Cleanup is an opportunity to transform your neighborhood and community into beautiful, healthy spaces. Beautiful places are environmentally healthy, socially connected and economically sound. They’re better places to raise families, start a business or go to school.
What: The Hampton Roads Great American Cleanup event is a two-day effort to remove litter and improve community appearance across all 17 cities and counties in the region. Community beautification projects include:
- Removing litter from roadsides, neighborhoods, beaches, waterways, and parks for cleaner communities
- Planting trees, flowers and community gardens to strengthen green infrastructure
- Restoring nature trails, parks and playgrounds to encourage outdoor activity
- Recycling old or unwanted items junking up your home or yard
- Restoring business districts and thoroughfares to encourage economic development
When: Friday, September 18th and Saturday, September 19th. There will be some pre-planned events to join, but due to social distancing guidelines, we are encouraging volunteers to lead neighborhood cleanups with smaller groups in a spot of your choosing. Supplies and support may be available from your local Clean Community Coordinator.
Who: Everyone has a role to play in keeping Hampton Roads beautiful. YOU can make a difference in your community.
How: Simply complete the form at https://askhrgreen.org/campaign/the-great-american-cleanup/ and let us know how you plan to Team Up 2 Cleanup!
Volunteers will be connected with a Team Up 2 Clean Up Clean Community Coordinator for assistance with proper safety protocols, available supplies and reporting your cleanup results.
Sponsorships are available at differing dollar amounts to help support clean communities in Hampton Roads and across the state. Proceeds will benefit Keep Virginia Beautiful and litter prevention efforts in Hampton Roads. Questions about sponsorship? Send questions to Mike Baum, Executive Director of Keep Virginia Beautiful, at mbaum@keepvirginiabeautiful.org.
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INTERNATIONAL COASTAL CLEANUPS SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER
International Coastal Cleanups are ON this fall! In some ways it looks a lot like Walk Hampton Clean, and is focusing on dry land as well as water edges and boat cleanups. For more information, visit https://oceanconservancy.org/trash-free-seas/international-coastal-cleanup/
To sign up for Hampton cleanups, fill out this form:
https://hampton.gov/FormCenter/Hampton-Boards-Commissions-Committees-5/Sign-Up-for-the-International-Coastal-Cl-146.
Thank you so much to all the coastal cleanup volunteers who make ICC part of their fall activities!
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COMMUNITY CLEANUPS THIS MONTH
Important point: if fewer than five people sign up for any cleanup, we’ll cancel, so be sure to register so we’ll know you’re coming!
September 18, 3pm: Ivy Home Road – a Great American Cleanup event
September 19, 10am: Rawood Drive Area – a Great American Cleanup event
September 26, 10am: Bethel High and Phenix Schools Area
To sign up, email hccc@hampton.gov or go to https://volunteer.kab.org/.
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TOUR DE TRASH EXPRESS! THIS MONTH
September’s Tour de Trash Express is September 24: Tour de Trash Express to Composting Facility! 9am-11:30am
To sign up for Tour de Trash Express go to http://bit.ly/TourdeTrash, where there’s a full list of upcoming tours – you can sign up for all of them if you want to! For information, contact hccc@hampton.gov or call 727-1130.
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UPCOMING HOUSEHOLD CHEMICAL & ELECTRONICS COLLECTION SEPTEMBER 19!
The next household chemical and electronics collection will be held Saturday September 18th at the Coliseum parking lot, 1000 Coliseum Drive (across from the Embassy Suites), from 8am - noon. Just a reminder, please stay in your vehicle when you take materials to this collection.
For more information go to: https://hampton.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=4566
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SIGN UP FOR THE ANNUAL LITTER INDEX TODAY!
The Community Appearance & Litter Index, Wednesday October 14th, is an annual requirement of our good standing as a Keep America Beautiful Affiliate. We need 10 volunteers to accomplish this important event. The event is a day-long event (8am – 5pm) that includes lunch. Social distancing and other safety measures will be practiced.
For more information, email hccc@hampton.gov.
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SIGN UP FOR THE ANNUAL SCHOOLS APPEARANCE INDEX TODAY!
No, we’re not repeating ourselves. The Litter Index and the Schools Appearance Index are two different events.
The Schools Appearance Index, Saturday October 24th, is an annual event designed to help keep our schools beautiful and clean. We need 10 volunteers to accomplish this important event. The event is a day-long event (8am – 5pm) that includes lunch. Social distancing and other safety measures will be practiced.
For more information, email hccc@hampton.gov.
NEWS YOU CAN USE!
COMMUNITY GARDENS NEWS!
Hampton Clean City Commission is very pleased to announce that Hampton Community Gardens has become part of the Clean City Commission! It’s a natural! For more information about Hampton Community Gardens, go to https://hampton.gov/2798/Community-Gardens.
While you’re at it, think about signing up for a community garden plot! They’re in high demand, so don’t delay! If you have a community group that would like to help our community gardens in some way, we’d welcome your help, whether in deeds or donations.
For more information, contact the Hampton Community Garden Coordinator, Wendy Iles, at wendy.iles@hampton.gov or 757-690-6113.
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PLEASE HELP PREVENT LITTER!
You can help prevent litter:
- Put your trash (NOT RECYCLING) in bags, and tie or twist tie them closed.
- When you wear masks and gloves for safety, please put them in the trash when you’re finished with them. Too many people are littering them in store parking lots. Those masks and gloves are going to clog storm drains and litter the Chesapeake Bay!
- After garbage collection, please go out and pick up any accidentally left-behind garbage (preferably using gloves) and wash your hands thoroughly afterward! If you don’t pick it up, it will wash down our storm drains.
- Now more than ever, it’s important to share your Clean City ethics with family, friends, and neighbors! Every piece of trash that hits the ground has an 80 percent chance of ending up in the Chesapeake Bay. Please help spread the word!
- When you visit any location, but particularly our parks and play areas, practice the Leave No Trace ethic – Pack It In, Pack It Out. If you can carry it somewhere, you certainly can carry it out. That applies to water bottles, candy wrappers, used tissues, PPE (masks and gloves), small pieces of trash, cigarettes, and anything else that goes with you into public areas.
- While we’re talking about litter… It’s essential for people to pick up their pet waste. Otherwise IT goes into the Chesapeake Bay, too! But putting it in a bag is only half the job. The other half is getting it into a trash can. Otherwise, it becomes more litter.
Would you believe people are littering all over the place, but most astonishingly in our parks – the places we all love to go to and NEED to go to! Please, please share this litter prevention message with your friends and family?
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RECYCLE RIGHT!
Recycling wrong will increase the cost of our solid waste program! So please, make every effort to RECYCLE RIGHT!
Recyclable Items - Allowed: Aluminum Cans, Plastic Bottles, Mixed Paper, Steel & Tin Cans, Glass Bottles & Jars, Empty Food Boxes, Card Board, News Paper, Magazines, Food & Beverage Cartons, Junk Mail, and Phone Books.
Non-Recyclables, Not Allowed: Food Waste, Wood, Yard Waste, Plastic Bags, Electronics, Hazardous Waste, Styrofoam, Light Bulbs, Bubble Wrap, Needles, Paint, Toys
The Green Container is for household trash, and the Gray Container is for Recyclables
Would you like someone to come to your group and talk about recycling right when we can gather again? Contact hccc@hampton.gov for a presentation! For quick questions, call 311 or HCCC at 727-1130.
Meanwhile, don’t let anything keep you from recycling right.
SIX IMPORTANT RECYCLING TIPS:
- Place unbagged recyclables in your container. No plastic bags at all, please. None. Not one.
- The only plastics that can be recycled are bottles and jugs.
- Flatten cardboard and corrugated boxes to make more room for your other recyclables.
- Rinse or wipe cans, bottles, and jugs before putting them in your bin.
- Remember aluminum foil and foil pans (pie pans, baking pans, cookie sheets) can be recycled, just rinse or wipe.
- ONLY the recyclables listed in the most recent recycling chart can be recycled. Check here to make sure you’re recycling right: https://hampton.gov/DocumentCenter/View/14663/Acceptable-Recyclables-Information?bidId=
EXTRA RECYCLABLES? LIVE IN AN APARTMENT OR CONDO?
Take them to the Yard Waste Transfer Site, 98 North Park Lane. As you enter the site, the recycling containers are on the right.
The same rules apply for drop-off recycling as for curbside recyclables: paper (boxes, newspapers, mail, food boxes, clean and dry), household-food-beverage plastic bottles and jugs only; glass bottles and jars only; metal cans, foil, and disposable aluminum baking sheets and pans; and milk and food cartons. NO PLASTIC BAGS, dirty diapers, garden hoses, or other trash.
Questions? Call 311 (727-8311) or visit this link: https://hampton.gov/DocumentCenter/View/14663/Acceptable-Recyclables-Information?bidId=. Please don’t put anything else in either your home recycling container or the drop-off recycling container. Thanks!
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ILLEGAL SIGNS ARE UGLY EYE LITTER!
Those yard-size signs that say “We’ll buy your house” and “Free Week When You Sign Up” that mysterious people put on our easements along our roadways are illegal. The people who are putting them there are violating the law and littering our roadways. The problem is that they sneak to put them up (because they know it’s wrong) and it’s hard for the Hampton Codes Office to find and prosecute them. We need your help!
Would you watch for people putting those signs out, get a license plate, and report it through 311 to the Codes office? That would help them a lot, and help our city, as well. If you can snap a few photos while you’re at it, all the better.
Another way to help is to pull them out and throw them in the trash when you see them. Make sure you’re not pulling up yard sale signs – permit holders are allowed a couple of signs to advertise their sales. But if it’s one of those “We’ll Buy Your…” signs, feel free to pull it up and throw it away.
For more information, contact the Hampton Clean City Commission at hccc@hampton.gov or 757-727-1199.
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RECYCLE YOUR PLASTIC BAGS & OTHER FILM PLASTICS – DON’T LET THEM BECOME TURTLE FOOD!
Plastic bags and plastic wraps of different kinds ARE recyclable, but they’re not recyclable in your household recycling container. They have to be taken to drop-off sites, most of which are retail locations that you might already be visiting. For more information and a list of plastic bag recycling sites: https://hampton.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=4565.
When they are littered, as far too many are, they blow or wash into our waterways and then into the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, where sea turtles think they’re jellyfish and other marine animals get tangled up in them. And then, of course, they also get tangled around boat propellers as well, we hear. DO NOT LITTER anything, especially plastic bags!
For more information, contact the Hampton Clean City Commission at hccc@hampton.gov or 757-727-1199.
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BALLOONS ARE LITTER TOO!
When they are released (littered), as far too many are, they float up and either float down because the helium escapes or burst. In either case, they fall to earth and onto land or into our waterways. From land they wash into our waterways and then into the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, where sea turtles think they’re jellyfish, other marine animals get tangled up in them, and birds eat them and the strings wreak havoc in their digestive systems. DO NOT RELEASE BALLOONS! And if you can’t avoid the possibility of releasing them, just don’t get them or give them. Never give them to little kids. They can’t help letting them go oftentimes.
For more information, contact the Hampton Clean City Commission at hccc@hampton.gov or 757-727-1199.
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TRASH BAG HOLDER EXPERIMENT – HAVE ANY OLD TENNIS RACQUETS?
Keep Norfolk Beautiful devised an interesting way to help hold trash bags during cleanups – by using unstrung tennis racquets with the bags clipped on with large paper clips. We’d like to give it a try! If you have an old tennis racquet you would like to donate to the cause, we would appreciate your donation of it!
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CHECK OUT THE BEE CITY USA – HAMPTON WEB PAGE!
Check out the information and resources on our new Bee City USA - Hampton web page! We hope you’ll find it a useful source of information and support in your efforts to support Hampton’s pollinators! https://hampton.gov/3759/Bee-City-USA
COMING THIS FALL
COMMUNITY CLEANUPS
Since June 26, we’ve held 9 cleanups, and 96 volunteers removed 126 bags of trash and an estimated 750 pounds of additional debris from our public areas. We had one cleanup postponed because of low registration and two cleanups postponed due to weather.
Fall Cleanup News Flash! Summer cleanups are over for now, but we still have Fall to go!
Important point: if fewer than five people sign up for any cleanup, we’ll cancel, so be sure to register so we’ll know you’re coming!
October 3, 10am: Shell Road (Algonquin – Colonial)
October 16, 3pm: Robinson Park Area
October 17, 10am: Lee Street (S Armistead to Old Celey)
November 20, 3pm: Milford/Brightwood/Westwood/Shell Area
November 21, 10am: Cooper Elementary
To sign up, email hccc@hampton.gov or go to https://volunteer.kab.org/.
Thank you so much to all the ardent Community Cleanup supporters who have suffered all kinds of heat, humidity, mosquitoes, and poison ivy to clean up our beloved communities!
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TOURS DE TRASH EXPRESS!
Upcoming Tours de Trash are:
- October 28: Tour de Trash Express to Steam Plant! 9am-11am
- November 13: America Recycles Day Tour de Recycling, 9am-1pm, TFC Recycling Material Recovery Facility
- December 2: Tour de Trash Express to Goodwill! 9am-11am NEW!
Naturally these dates depend on widespread healthiness! So sign up, and we’ll all cross our fingers that the tours will go on!
To sign up for Tours de Trash Express or Tour de Recycling go to http://bit.ly/TourdeTrash, where there’s a full list of upcoming tours – you can sign up for all of them if you want to! For information, contact hccc@hampton.gov or call 727-1130.
FOR REFERENCE
VOLUNTEER RECOGNITION DINNER
You may be wondering about the Volunteer Recognition Event. It has been postponed to April 2021, most likely April 15. We’ll announce it in plenty of time. The Adopt-A-Spot Awards will be based on the time frame of October 2019 to March 2021. Other awards may be affected by the pandemic, but we will be recognizing people for all the wonderful things they do! Put Thursday April 15 and April 22 on your calendar, and we’ll update you as soon as the final date is determined.
For more information, contact the Hampton Clean City Commission at hccc@hampton.gov or 757-727-1199.
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CONNECT WITH HCCC IN 2020:
HCCC’s Facebook page serves as an information source for all things “clean city” – beautification, community environment improvement, litter prevention, recycling, the 3Rs, and general environmental education. We share reputable information about these topics and provide information about our programs, activities, and volunteers. If you want a good overview of what’s happening in Hampton and the larger world of our topics of interest, the Hampton Clean City Commission page is a can’t-miss sign-up! Follow us on Instagram or Twitter, too, to help share information about topics that are important to you.
HCCC sponsors two Facebook groups – Hampton Waterways Restoration Project and Bee City USA – Hampton. The Hampton Waterways Restoration Project Group focuses on the HWRP Committee’s efforts to improve Hampton’s waterways through awareness and action projects. Among the posts you’ll see are reports on committee oyster activities, waterway cleanup announcements, information about various impacts on water quality, and volunteer reports on their various HWRP projects. The Bee City USA – Hampton Group focuses on building a resilient habitat for bees and other pollinators. You’ll see educational posts about pollinators of various types, the plants they thrive on, how you can support a sustainable pollinator habitat, and occasionally cool educational resources.
You can find and sign up for volunteer opportunities with HCCC at https://volunteer.kab.org/.
Sign up for web page notifications (news flashes and calendars) at https://hampton.gov/list.aspx.
For more information, hccc@hampton.gov or 757-727-1130. Or look for Hampton Clean City Commission on each platform.
The HCCC Office is open to the public. We’re limiting the number of people in our reception area for the time being, so call 727-1130 before you come so we can make sure we don’t have a “traffic jam”.