highway. Children will be eligible to win one of five Trek bicycles.

Local coordinators collect pledges at their events, award prizes if available, and forward the pledges to the state coordinators. In many states, the state recycling organization sponsors additional prize drawings, giving citizens as many as three chances to be rewarded for recycling. The Virginia Recycling Association and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments are the state level sponsors of the AMERICA RECYCLES campaign in Virginia.

While the prizes are an exciting incentive to encourage participation, they also help to educate the public about new products made from recycled materials. For instance, in 2004 the top prize awarded by VRA was a $500 gift certificate to a local store that sells “plastic lumber” products, including deck chairs and fencing made from plastic milk jugs.

WE ALL WIN

With AMERICA RECYCLES, it’s not just the citizens who win. We all win, and our efforts come back to benefit us as cleaner communities, jobs to boost the economy and new products to better our quality of life. In 2004, two Virginia programs received additional benefits beyond those when they were among seven recognized for their participation in the 2003 AMERICA RECYCLES campaign.

Fairfax County took top honors for its events, which included the launch of a new awareness campaign and a recycling road show to collect computers, shoes, cell phones and bicycles to benefit local community organizations.

The Central Virginia Waste Management Authority, a regional agency that serves 13 local governments around Richmond, hosted a recycling festival at the Science Museum of Virginia and held tours of a recycling facility.

Fairfax was awarded $7,500 and CVWMA $2,500 for these events from contest sponsor Recycle America Alliance.

It’s not too late to plan an AMERICA RECYCLES 2005 event. To request the resources described