Several localities in the northern Shenandoah Valley have received a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to expand their recycling programs. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reports.
The EPA has awarded the Northern Shenandoah Valley Regional Commission a $4 million grant, which will be used to upgrade recycling infrastructure for the counties of Clarke, Frederick, Page, Shenandoah, and Warren, and the city of Winchester.
AMANDA KERNS: So, everything that is required of us for the Department of Environmental Quality in the state of Virginia, like our solid waste plan, our recycling reports, we do that at a regional level so each locality doesn't have to do it on their own.
Amanda Kerns is the commission's senior planner. The grant will be divvied up between three projects. First, the commission will upgrade the tire shredding equipment at the Frederick County landfill, so they can produce –
KERNS: Two separate materials that can be reintroduced into the marketplace for reuse somehow … like playground mulch. It can also be used in asphalt, and for roads.
Second, they'll purchase new bulk recycling containers for the region's landfills. And third, they'll procure service providers and purchase the residential bins necessary to reintroduce curbside recycling service in all 14 towns in their jurisdiction.
Kerns said it was exciting, as a rural region, to win a big federal grant.
KERNS: This grant was very, very competitive … over 250 applications nationwide. Only 25 applicants were selected nationwide.
Other grant recipients on the East Coast include Baltimore, Maryland, and Durham County, North Carolina.
