News Flash

Community Cleanup, Rawood Drive, August 16, 9am, Cleanup volunteers needed! Sign up at hccc@hampton.gov.

Groovin’ by the Bay Litter- Free Event Cleanups, August 18 – September 1, Sundays, 5pm – 8pm, Buckroe Beach Park, 100 S 1st St, Hampton. REALLY need more volunteers for each Sunday evening for the rest of the summer. Contact hccc@hampton.gov for more information. Sign up for all the evenings or just one or two!

Crabtown Seafood Festival, August 17, 11am – 7pm, Mill Point Park, 100 Eaton St. Need volunteers to conduct litter-free event activities, contact hccc@hampton.gov to sign up. We also need display volunteers, contact causink@hampton.gov to sign up for that. Both activities are divided by four-hour shifts.

International Coast Cleanups, September 1 – October 31, various locations in Hampton. Need volunteers to be site captains and cleanup crew members for each site. Most cleanups will last no more than two hours. Land and water sites available. Boating cleanup volunteers must provide their own boat and have their own life jackets. Contact causink@hampton.gov for more information.

Clean City Award Nominations: Do you know someone (individual or group) who works tirelessly to make our city clean and green? Nominate your environmental heroes at http://bit.ly/CleanCityAwardNomination. Nominees will be invited to the annual volunteer recognition dinner on October 24, and they might win an award! For more information hccc@hampton.gov or 757-727-1130. Deadline for nominations is September 6, so get those nominations in!

Interstate Interchange Cleanup Volunteers Needed! We need adult volunteers who HATE the litter on our interstate ramps to help Public Works clean it up about twice a month on Saturdays starting in October. Public Works will provide safety measures, HCCC will provide equipment and transportation to the ramps along with all the appreciation we can give you. Contact hccc@hampton.gov for more information. Sign up for one ramp or all of them! We just want to get those nasty things cleaned up!

Seize The Bay Trash-to-Art Show Call for Artists: The third biennial Seize the Bay trash to art show is about to launch! Sponsored by Hampton Waterways Restoration Project [HWRP] and Hampton University Museum, and supporting the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and Hampton University's oyster restoration program to clean our waterways. Artists are asked to create artwork that celebrates the Bay, and if possible, to use "found objects", aka trash, in the pieces. Artwork would be donated and auctioned off at the show November 2-9, 2019 at the Hampton University Museum on HU's campus. Open to all! Pieces created for the previous two shows were incredible and everyone is looking forward to what you've got this year! Here’s a link to the Facebook Album showing the 2017 show: http://bit.ly/SeizeTheBayArtShowAlbum.

Contact causink@hampton.gov with any questions. Thank you all for your help in the past and in advance for this year!

Hampton Parks, Recreation, and Leisure Services Department Master Plan Update: Would you like to be part of the process? There's going to be a kick-off event on August 20, 6:30pm - 8pm, at Hampton Roads Convention Center Ballroom EF, 1610 Coliseum Drive, and YOU are invited! More info at www.hampton.gov/parksplan.

Fuller’s Raw Bar, Clean & Green Workplaces Award Winner, Summer 2019: Fuller’s Raw Bar has been selected this quarter’s Clean & Green Workplaces Award winner based on their enthusiastic support of oyster shell recycling since they opened! Since in just four months they recycled more than 54 bushels of oyster shells (more than 37,800 shells) that will become habitat for new oysters that will clean our waterways! They will be recognized at the Virginia Clean Business Forum on August 21. For more information, hccc@hampton.gov.

Check Out & Clean Up! Did you know you could check out cleanup equipment from our libraries? You can clean up your street, your neighborhood, or a nearby park! Yes, you CAN! Try it out! Ask at your favorite library branch! Have you tried it yet?

YARDS Contest Nominations: Do you know of a beautiful yard you think should be Yard of the Month? Nominate your favorite yards at http://bit.ly/YARDSNomination. YARDS yards are beautiful, good for the environment, and good for their neighborhood and the city. For more information, hccc@hampton.gov. For more information and for online resources, go to https://hampton.gov/929/YARDS. LAST YARDS Judging of the season is September 9, so get those nominations in!

Recycle Right Tip of the Day! Did you know you know… paper is made from trees? Of course you do! We bet an elementary school student in your life told you! But did you know that paper is MOST of what you can recycle in your home? Nearly a third of what’s available for you to recycle is paper. Here are some paper recycling guidelines.

• While most household paper is recyclable, not all is. Please include only clean, dry paper, paperboard, and corrugated cardboard in your recycling container.
• Recycle Wrongs include: tissue paper, napkins, paper towels, paper plates with food residue, pizza boxes with grease, paper adhered to plastic or metal (think candy wrappers or fancy gift wrap)
• Recycle Rights: too many to list completely! Junk mail, magazines, computer paper, stationery, homework papers, newspapers, food and tissue boxes, rolls that paper towels and toilet paper are wrapped around, PAPER egg cartons, gift boxes (without foil or plastic lining), shipping boxes, storage boxes, and so much more.

If you have questions, ask 311 or HCCC (hccc@hampton.gov).

Plastic Bag Recycling:  You CAN recycle plastic bags and wrap, but ONLY at store or civic organization drop-offs. As a matter of fact, you can drop them off at Hampton’s community gardens or HCCC to help earn plastic benches for the community gardens. The locations are: North Phoebus Community Center, 249 W. Chamberlin Avenue; Phoebus, 124 S. Hope St.; Buckroe, 710 Buckroe Avenue; or HCCC, 1296 Thomas Street

Fall Yard Tips: Planning ahead for a green spring? Start planning now!

1. If you have the kind of grass that stays green in the winter, now is the time to start fertilizing if you need to. Get your soil tested if it hasn’t been in the last three or four years to make sure. Fertilizer your yard doesn’t need runs off into the Chesapeake Bay and causes algal blooms that kill fish. Check out Virginia Cooperative Extension’s lawn care publication at http://digitalpubs.ext.vt.edu/vcedigitalpubs/1638186788765552/MobilePagedReplica.action?pm=2&folio=1#pg1.
2. Many native plants, flowers and trees, can and should be planted in the fall. Make sure you focus on those native plants because they’re better for our local environment (less water, less pest management, less care). Here’s information for our area: https://www.deq.virginia.gov/Portals/0/DEQ/CoastalZoneManagement/Native-Plants-for-Southeast-Virginia-Guide.pdf. Here’s another good resource: https://askhrgreen.org/gtk-gtd/plant-native-plants/.
3. Plan to upcycle some items from your house in your garden this year. There are lots and lots of ideas online!
4. Have you considered growing food plants, like blueberries and blackberries? It’s a thought!
5. This might be the year to start a compost pile, especially with all the leaves that will be falling in the next few months. You could add food scraps that are meat-, dairy-, and grease-free for richer compost and less garbage to haul to the curb.
6. Share some more ideas with us and we’ll share them on social media!