Josie Seppala

Today I learned about the Orange County, VA, Recycling Program (https://orangecountyva.gov/509/Recycling). The state of Virginia mandates the County of Orange to develop a recycling program to meet or exceed 15% of its municipal solid waste generation—the programs for Virginia do not seem as robust as those in Oregon. In public places, Oregon has recycling, landfill, or compost; 90% of places in Virginia only have a landfill; this is likely dependent on participation from citizens, local government, environmental organizations, and businesses to help the community and the environment.

Senate Bill 218 directs DEQ (Department of Environmental Quality) to provide a report on recycling rates and recommendations for improving the reliability of the supply of recycled materials.

The calendar year 2021 Virginia Recycling Rate Report established a recycling rate for Virginia of 43.3 percent, which included credits for reused solid waste, non-MSW (municipal solid waste), recycling residues, and source reduction programs. This rate was based on the data submitted by all 17 SWPUs (Solida Waste Planning Units) required to report for 2021.

In the calendar year 2021, Oregon state recovered 2,447,267 tons of material. This represented 37.7 percent of the municipal post-consumer waste stream, well below the statewide goal of 52 percent recovery by the year 2020, and the lowest statewide recovery rate since the year 1999. Recovered tons decreased by 2.2 percent from the previous year surveyed, 2020.

The hardest to recycle for any state is plastic; less than 10% of it is being recycled, and environmental scientists estimate that by 2050 the amount of plastic resin produced will increase by 30-50%.

This morning, I stopped by Orange County Roasters (http://www.orangecountycoffeeroasters.net/) in Orange, VA, to pick up two bags of locally roasted coffee. This coffee shop used to be open with a small cafe but closed during the pandemic; a bummer, but still glad they can roast coffee for the town of Orange and beyond. The shop is owned by a husband and wife team, always friendly, and always good to see their products in and around Orange, VA.

Today I worked on learning about native lands using Native Land Digital. The native lands near my home in Virginia are the Monacan and the Manahoac. The Monacan Indian Nation is headquartered on Bear Mountain in Amherst County; citizens descend from Virginia and North Carolina Eastern Siouan cultural and linguistic groups. The tribe grew the Three Sisters' crops of corn, bean, and squash (yum!) and domesticated various foods, such as fruit trees, wild grapes, and nuts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NKEWD52xgg&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.monacannation.com%2F&source_ve_path=MjM4NTE&feature=emb_title

Calculated my water footprint using https://www.watercalculator.org/. I personally use 1,550 gallons/day, and my household of four people uses 6,199 gallons/day; the United States average is 1,802 gallons/day. The site provides water footprint 101. I am going to look into to see how I can reduce the amount of water I use. What was interesting is the calculation takes into account online purchases, pet purchases, etc., which I do not think about and will go forward regarding my water use.

Let's do this!!! 22 days of eco challenges!

Today starts the first day of the 1% for the planet community ecochallenge! I have selected a couple of the items I already do, gardening, reusable mugs, hiking, and made my actions plan for the next 22 days!