Reminder: the HCCC Office is closed to the public, and all cleanups are discontinued until further notice. We’ll be sure to let you know when we reopen!
In case you missed it, we received the following advisory from Keep America Beautiful:
“Due to reports from global health services that the coronavirus (COVID-19) can live on surfaces for an extended period of time, such as up 24 hours on cardboard and up to 2-3 days on plastic, we are advising everyone against picking up litter, in groups or individually, until further notice. Our primary concern and priority is the health and safety of our affiliate network, volunteers, and all Americans. #SafetyIsBeautiful”
Wow, I bet you never thought you’d be hearing the Hampton Clean City Commission say DON’T PICK UP LITTER, and we never thought we’d be saying it! But based on this recommendation from Keep America Beautiful, we are doing just that. It hurts our hearts, believe me! The most important goal is for ALL of us to come out of this epidemic safely and ready to fight litter another day. Please keep your hands clean and your eyes peeled. Once we’re allowed to pick up litter again, you can bet we’ll be at it full force. Thank you for all you do!
Don’t #TeamUp2CleanUp just now. Please.
This announcement affects Walk Hampton Clean, Adopt-A-Spot Cleanups, Special Cleanups, Community Cleanups, Kayak Cleanups, Check Out and Clean Up Cleanups, and Newmarket Creek Clean Sweep Cleanups.
Right now, we are tentatively rescheduling all cleanup events to June 11 or later, but circumstances may change, so stay connected! If we can start cleaning up again sooner, we WILL!
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Please Help Prevent Litter! Here are ways 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 start clogging storm drains and littering 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! We can’t do cleanups right now, and 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!
- While we’re talking about litter… It’s great and essential when people 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.
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Household Chemical & Electronics Collections: Tentatively, the next collection will be May 16, though it likely will be canceled.
For more information, contact Hampton’s Customer Call Center at 311 (or 757-727-8311) or call Virginia Peninsulas Public Service Authority at 757-259-9850. You can access additional information at https://www.vppsa.org/services/#chemical.
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Plastic Bag Recycling: You CAN recycle plastic bags and wrap, but ONLY at store drop-off locations until schools and the HCCC office reopen. We encourage you to take your bags to your regular grocery store, if they collect plastic bags. You can hold your bags for our reopening if you prefer.
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HCCC Board and Committee Meetings for April: For more information or to sign up for a teleconference meeting, contact hccc@hampton.gov or call 727-1130. Please make sure we have both your email address and your phone number.
April 9, 6:30pm – 8pm, Hampton Waterways Restoration Project, CANCELED
April 14, 3:30am – 5pm, Hampton Clean City Commission Meeting, teleconference
April 16, 1pm – 2pm, Bee City USA – Hampton Committee Meeting, teleconference
April 21, 3:30pm – 4:30pm, Clean & Green Workplaces Committee Meeting, teleconference
May 7, 11:30am – 1:00pm, Litter & Recycling Awareness Committee, tentative, teleconference
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Hampton 3Rs Spring Cleaning Collection, Tentatively May 22, 10am – 1pm, CANCELED. Keep your eyes open for more information about a reschedule date! Contact us at hccc@hampton.gov or 727-1130.
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Tour de Trash! Tentatively Rescheduled to June 5, 9am – 4pm. CANCELED: Looks like the full tour isn’t going to happen this spring or summer. 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.
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Recycling Information: 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 social distancing keep you from recycling right.
Here are FIVE IMPORTANT RECYCLING TIPS:
- Place unbagged recyclables in your container. No plastic bags at all, please.
- The only plastics that can be recycled now 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.
Extra Recyclables? Take them to one of three drop-off sites:
- The Yard Waste Transfer Site, 100 North Park Lane
- Gosnold’s Hope Park administrative building, 901 E Little Back River Rd
- Briarfield Park by the ball field, 1560 Briarfield Rd.
At all three sites, the same rules apply 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 container or the drop-off containers. Thanks!
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Connect with HCCC in 2020:
Sign up for web page notifications (news flashes and calendars) at https://hampton.gov/list.aspx.
Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. For more information, hccc@hampton.gov or 757-727-1130.