News Flash

HCCC Christmas Dinner, December 10, 6pm-8pm! Would you like to meet some of the good people associated with the Clean City Commission? We’ll be gather for a casual get-together, separate checks dinner at the Red Lobster. Let us know if you plan to come so Red Lobster can set up for all of us - hccc@hampton.gov for more information. This gathering takes the place of our regular monthly meeting.

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, tentative start time 9am, starting in January. 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!

Hampton Is Now Bee City USA - Hampton! On November 13, Hampton City Council approved a resolution to make Hampton a Bee City USA community – the 101^st nationally and the 4^th in Virginia. Bee City USA is an initiative of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, a nonprofit organization based in Portland, Oregon, with offices across the country. Bee City USA’s mission is to galvanize communities to sustain pollinators by providing them with healthy habitat, rich in a variety of native plants, and free of insecticides. Pollinators like bumble bees, sweat bees, mason bees, honey bees, butterflies, moths, beetles, flies, hummingbirds and many others are responsible for the reproduction of almost 90 percent of the world's flowering plant species and one in every three bites of food we consume. If you’d like to contribute in some way, by serving on the steering committee, planting pollinator-supportive landscapes, or volunteering for projects, contact hccc@hampton.gov or call 727-1130

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 Ave; Phoebus, 124 S. Hope St; Buckroe, 710 Buckroe Ave; or HCCC, 1296 Thomas St. The Hampton Master Gardeners (at Bluebird Gap Farm Arboretum and Demonstration Garden, 60 Pine Chapel Rd) and Peninsula Master Naturalists also collect them, and some schools will collect them for competitions.

We urge you to support your local schools by saving your clean plastic bags and plastic case wrapping for them! There’s a lot at stake for them – prizes ranging from $500 - $1000 or a plastic bench! Winners are selected based on the weight of bags per student, so all the schools need your bags, your neighbors’ bags, and your business or organizations’ bags!

Here’s our list of plastic bag recycling competition schools:

• Armstrong Elementary School, 3401 Matoaka Rd
• Asbury Elementary School, 140 Beach Rd
• Bethel High School, 1067 Big Bethel Rd
• Booker Elementary School, 160 Apollo Dr
• Burbank Elementary School, 40 Tidemill Ln
• Hampton Christian Academy Lower School, NOT A DROP-OFF SITE
• Hampton High School, 1491 West Queen St
• Langley Elementary School, 16 Rockwell Rd
• Phenix Prek – 8 School, 1061 Big Bethel Rd
• Rivermont School, 303 Butler Farm Road, Ste 100
• Spratley Gifted Center, 339 Woodland Rd

Monthly Themes and Messages for 2020: We’re looking for your ideas about what HCCC’s themes and messages should be for each month of the upcoming year. Send your ideas to hccc@hampton.gov!

Community Cleanup Nominations: Is there a regularly littered place you would like to place on our list of Community Cleanups? Send it to hccc@hampton.gov to add it to our list.

Recycling Information: Would you like someone to come to your group and talk about recycling right? Contact hccc@hampton.gov for a presentation! For quick questions, call 311 or HCCC at 727-1130.

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! It’s an easy and rewarding way to help your neighborhood or another favorite place you want to clean up. Ask at your favorite library branch! Have you tried it yet? When you clean up, be sure to report so we can thank you! http://bit.ly/LibraryCleanupReport

Who Will Be Hampton’s Winter Clean & Green Businesses Award Winner? That’s up to you, in part! Your favorite clean & green business can only win if you nominate it! For more information, contact hccc@hampton.gov or call 727-1130. To nominate a workplace, fill out the form at http://bit.ly/GreenWorkplaceAwardForm.

HCCC Office Holiday Closures: HCCC will be closed for the holidays on the following dates: December 24 and 25 and January 1.