The Environmental Compliance Task Force (ECTF) is a multi-departmental committee whose focus is to promote environ-mental stewardship and to address and prevent environmental violations county-wide. Just like Carl Sommers (featured above), you too can play a part. If you see an environmental violation you can report that violation at this address: http://www.co.henrico.va.us/departments/works/ectf/form/. Examples of environmental violations include tire dumps, oil spills, paint dumpings, anything being put into the stormwater system other than rain water.

County Employee Feature By Lane Carr

ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE TASK FORCE

March 2010 Volume 1, Issue 2

IT’S EASY BEING GREEN!

The ECTF Needs YOU!

www.greenhenrico.com

Outside of his normal duties, Carl Sommers, Environmental Inspector for DPW’s Engineering and Environmental Services Division, has appropriately earned the nickname “Tire King” for his assistance in finding numerous large piles of illegally dumped tires. In the last 2 years, Carl’s findings have resulted in the cleaning up of over 2,000 waste tires across Henrico County. Removing these tire piles re-quires coordination amongst a well put together team including Butch Jones (Deputy Fire Marshall), The Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), the owner of the property on which the tires were dumped, and employees from DPW’s Standing Water Initiative (who will treat the tires for mosquitoes until the pile is removed). Once a tire pile is discovered and documented, the location is treated as an environmental crime scene. Butch Jones conducts an investigation of the area and the site is secured. The DEQ is informed of the tire pile location so it can become “certified” under DEQ’s Waste Tire Program.

A minimum of 100 waste tires is required for certification. Once the pile is certi-fied, and provided the property owner can load and transport the tires, the DEQ pays for the cost of recycling at Virginia Recycling Corporation in New Kent County.

If you would like to nominate a fellow employee to be featured in an upcoming issue of “It’s Easy Being Green”, please e-mail John Fowler at fow@co.henrico.va.us.

Green $aver$ By Jerry Buresh

Choose vegetable-based dishwashing detergent: If every family in the United States re-

placed just one 28 oz. bottle of petroleum-based dish de-tergent with a vegetable-based product, we could save 82,000 barrels of oil. That’s a lot of gas.!

Use Rain Barrels: Central VA averages 3 to 4.5 inches of rain per month from March to Novem-

ber. If your roof at home is 1000sqft, that equals 600 gals of water for 1 inch of water that falls on your roof. If you can collect it you could water your lawn and plants all year from just the rain from your roof.

Switch to natural cleaners: Mixing white vinegar and baking soda can replace all of your store bought

cleaners, which can save 100’s of dollars a year. It also neu-tralizes odors in the home by reducing (offgas) toxins from cleaners.

Henrico County has partnered with the Department of Conser-vation and Recreation, as well as several other municipalities, to spread the word about plants and how they can help the Chesapeake Bay’s health. Through this program, we hope to make an impact on the qual-ity of the Bay and the diverse ecosystem that it supports. The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States, approximately 200 miles long, extending from Havre de Grace, Maryland, to Virginia Beach, Virginia. It is fed by riv-ers and streams in a 64,000 square mile watershed that stretches from upstate New York to Southern Virginia. It is a complex ecosystem composed

of important habitats and food webs. The Bay and its rivers, wetlands and forests provide homes, food and protection for diverse groups of animals and plants. Each spring, rain storms wash pollutants from hundreds of thou-sands of urban landscapes and suburban lawns into our streams, rivers and the Chesapeake Bay. Once in our waterways, chemi-cals designed to make our lawns green, fuel the growth of excess algae, which threatens the health of underwater Bay life and our ecosystem. Water quality is the most impor-tant measure of the Chesapeake Bay’s health. Unfortunately, the health of the Chesapeake Bay is in jeopardy, as a result of pollut-ants including those from storm water runoff. Water quality in the Bay remains extremely poor be-cause of nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment pollution. To improve water quality, the flow of pollution must be re-duced.

Plant More Plants, a personal stewardship campaign by the Chesapeake Bay Program, aims to encourage residential home-owners to take on behaviors that improve the health of the Chesa-peake Bay by reducing the harm-ful effects of storm water runoff—the fastest growing source of pol-lution— from urban and suburban land. Homeowners in the Hamp-ton Roads and Richmond areas of Virginia, Washington D.C. metro-politan area and Baltimore are encouraged to adopt conservation gardening and lawn care behav-iors that ultimately mitigate harm-ful pollutants and improve the health of the Chesapeake Bay. (cont. on pg. 4)

From www.cvwma.com:

Can I have another bin? What do I do with the recyclables that won't fit inside my bin?

The CVWMA encourages residents to use brown paper grocery bags or rigid containers 40 gallons or less in size (such as a plas-tic tote) to hold extra recyclables. Please do not put the top or lid on the container. We provide stickers to clearly mark your con-tainer for recycling to family members and drivers.

Please contact the Keep Henrico Beautiful office at 501-7277 or

e-mail bro77 to get a sticker for your extra curbside bins. Thanks for recycling!

Plant More Plants! By John Fowler

Curbside Corner By Megan Brown

Page 2 IT’S EASY BEING GREEN!

Dishwashers can be hard on glass and being clumsy doesn’t help either. I recently realized I had two mismatched drinking glasses left. I didn’t want to spend money on new glasses. Look-ing through the cabinet, I saw a collec-tion of old mason jars. Problem solved. This solution got me thinking about reusing glass. Old salsa, pickle and sauce jars are perfect for packing up leftovers. They can also be used as vases, candle holders and for orga-nizing items. Plus, glasses with lids make perfect to go cups.

Glass jars can also be a fun craft for you and your family. Old glass jars with nice tight lids can make great snow globes. Just glue a figurine to the inside of the lid. Fill the jar with water and a little glitter. Add a splash of corn syrup (this will slow the glitter down). Screw the top back on and seal the lid with glue on the outside. You can cover this glue with ribbon if it looks messy. Turn your new globe upside and shake!

The concept of reusing glass is nothing new. I remember all the glass jars in my grandfather’s work-shop, filled with various metal parts, nuts and bolts. He attached the lids of the jars to the underside of a hanging cabinet, filled the jars and twisted them into place. Our grand-parents and great grandparents knew the value of reusing items to save money. Looking to the past for a solution can sometimes help us go green and live more frugally.

Looking to the Past for a Green Solution By Olivia Hall

Driving More Efficiently By Jerry Walker

Drive Sensibly

Aggressive driving (speeding, rapid acceleration and braking) wastes gas. It can lower your gas mileage by 33 percent at highway speeds and by 5 percent around town. Sensible driv-ing is also safer for you and others, so you may save more than gas money. Savings: $0.19-$1.23/gallon

Observe the Speed Limit While each vehicle reaches its optimal fuel economy at a different speed (or range of speeds), gas mileage usually decreases rapidly at speeds above 60 mph. As a rule of thumb, you can assume that each 5 mph you drive over 60 mph is like paying an additional $0.20 per gallon for gas. Observing the speed limit is also safer. Savings: $0.26-$0.86/gallon

Keep Your Engine Properly Tuned Fixing a car that is noticeably out of tune or has failed an emissions test can improve its gas mileage by an average of 4 percent, though results vary based on the kind of repair and how well it is done. Fixing a serious maintenance problem, such as a faulty oxygen sensor, can im-prove your mileage by as much as 40 percent. Savings: $0.37/gallon

Check & Replace Air Filters Regularly Replacing a clogged air filter can improve your car's gas mileage by as much as 10 percent. Your car's air filter keeps impurities from damaging the inside of your engine. Not only will replacing a dirty air filter save gas, it will protect your engine.

Page 3 VOLUME 1, ISSUE 2

ECTF Newsletter

www.GreenHenrico.com

water, fertilizer, pesticides and overall maintenance. Na-tive plants are also the best source of food and shelter for wildlife. Natural landscapes reduce the quantity and improve the quality of storm water runoff. Native plants absorb storm water and act as filters that reduce the harmful effects of

The message to homeowners is simple and encourages a behavior they are already predisposed to do – Grow some good. Plant more plants. Not only do plants make yards more beautiful, but because they also filter storm water runoff, the Chesapeake Bay becomes healthier and more beautiful too. Plant More Plants encour-ages consumers to plant na-tive plants to help conserve the Bay’s natural resources. Plants native to the Bay area are adapted to the region’s soil, climate and pests, therefore requiring less

fertilizers, pesticides and spilled fuels from power equipment. Plant roots grip soil and reduce erosion from storm water runoff. Native species planted on slopes, along water bodies and along drainage ditches help to prevent erosion and pollution by stabilizing the soil and slowing the flow of rain-water runoff. To learn about conservation landscaping and how to help improve the Chesapeake Bay starting in your own backyard, visit: www.PlantMorePlants.com.

Plant More Plants cont.

Environmental Awareness and Policy Presentation By Jason Young

The office of Risk Management has created an Environmental Awareness and Policy PowerPoint presen-tation. This presentation will help create a general awareness of environmental issues while providing in-formation on how to effectively deal with environmental concerns.

The office of Risk Management strongly encourages all employees to view this presentation, which is avail-able at the following link: http://virtual.henrico/gensvcs/risk/EnvironmentalAwareness.pps and also at the following webpage: http://virtual.henrico/gensvcs/risk/environmental.htm.

Jason Young, Environmental Coordinator (you44@co.henrico.va.us), is available to conduct group training for those without access to a computer. Please make sure your computers audio is turned on. Thank you for your participation in creating a successful Environmental Program

Edited by Olivia Hall, Jason Young, Jerry Buresh and Megan Brown. Editor in Chief John Fowler