Richmond, Va. –
Each Nov. 15 we celebrate “America Recycles Day.” Most folks think that recycling was a product of the late 1960s, but the initiative to protect the environment got its start long before that.
According to Jimmy Parrish, chief, Environmental Division, DLA Installation Management Richmond, “The reuse and recycling of scarce materials was well in place during America’s Colonial times. Rags, paper, and even the bones from cattle, were all used to make other commodities needed by America’s settlers.”
“DLA Installation Management Richmond and Defense Supply Center Richmond employees have supported a very aggressive recycling program for years,” said Parrish. “Last year our efforts kept more than 168,780 pounds of white paper and 28,000 pounds of cardboard from taking up space in a landfill. It’s really a successful team effort, from the environmentally conscientious individual employee and his or her recycling bin, to Soar 365 staff and their collections, to our recycling contractors.”
America Recycles Day is actually an offshoot of the Keep America Beautiful campaign, which was started by public and corporate firms in the early 1950s. Single-use drink containers were becoming so popular that their wide-scale use and subsequent disposal was causing the creation of unsightly and smelly piles of trash in America’s national parks. The Keep America Beautiful campaign initially incentivized thousands of volunteers to band together to work to return the parks to their natural beauty and keep them in that condition today.
Parrish said, installation employees also have the opportunity to bring in their recyclables from home.
“We know that not all residential communities can afford curbside recycling programs, so we have placed very large and noticeable bins in the parking lots adjacent to Building 59, parking Lot 9 and Building 19, near the mailbox,” He said. “Here employees can recycle glass, paper, cardboard and plastics. Every little bit collected makes a difference!”