Oyster Gardening Opportunities: December 22, 1pm, Sunset Boating Center, 800 S Armistead Avenue, sign up at causink@hampton.gov, AND/OR Dandy Haven Marina, 374 Dandy Haven Rd, beginning of January, date and time dependent on weather, for specifics, contact George at glc74@cox.net. Join in for a hands-on oyster gardening experience, or watch from the dock. Either way you'll learn about oysters, how they grow, and why they're important to our waterways.
HCCC Office Holiday Closures: HCCC will be closed for the holidays on the following dates: December 24 and 25 and January 1.
Interstate Interchange Cleanup Volunteers Needed: We need adult volunteers who HATE the litter on our interstate ramps to help Public Works clean it up about twice a month on Saturdays, tentative start time 9am, starting in January. Public Works will provide safety measures, HCCC will provide equipment and transportation to the ramps along with all the appreciation we can give you. Contact hccc@hampton.gov for more information. Sign up for one ramp or all of them! We just want to get those nasty things cleaned up! We’ll keep you up to date as we get started with this project.
Hampton Is Now Bee City USA - Hampton! On November 13, Hampton City Council approved a resolution to make Hampton a Bee City USA community – the 101st nationally and the 4th in Virginia. Bee City USA is an initiative of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, a nonprofit organization based in Portland, Oregon, with offices across the country. Bee City USA’s mission is to galvanize communities to sustain pollinators by providing them with healthy habitat, rich in a variety of native plants, and free of insecticides. Pollinators like bumble bees, sweat bees, mason bees, honey bees, butterflies, moths, beetles, flies, hummingbirds and many others are responsible for the reproduction of almost 90 percent of the world's flowering plant species and one in every three bites of food we consume. If you’d like to contribute in some way, by serving on the steering committee, planting pollinator-supportive landscapes, or volunteering for projects, contact hccc@hampton.gov or call 727-1130. The next Steering Committee Meeting is January 16 at 1pm, HCCC, 1296 Thomas Street.
Tour de Trash Express to the Landfill! January 15, 9am – 11am: Have you always wanted to visit Bethel Landfill, but didn’t have time for the day-long Tour de Trash? Now is your golden opportunity to go to the highest point on the Peninsula (weather permitting) and to experience the landfill without having to rush to other sites! Watch, listen, absorb, ask questions, there will be plenty of time and opportunity. To sign up, contact hccc@hampton.gov or call 727-1130. Many people have expressed a desire for Saturday tours, but the sites don’t open for tours on Saturdays. So if you can take a little time off from work, this would be a fun way to learn about trash in Hampton!
TWO Community Cleanups! Some people like to squeeze in a cleanup to end their week on a good note, while others like to start their weekend on the clean foot. So here are two Community Cleanup opportunities for you! Sites are selected based on litter index results and citizen recommendations.
Friday January 17 at 3pm, we’ll be cleaning up the portion of Shell Road between Pine Avenue and Childs Avenue. This an adults-only cleanup.
On Saturday January 18 at 10am, we’ll go to Ireland Street to clean up! This one will be good for children, teens, and adults.
Two things to know – we need a minimum of five people to hold each cleanup, and you MUST register in advance.
To sign up, contact hccc@hampton.gov or call 727-1130.
Check Out & Clean Up! Did you know you could check out cleanup equipment from our libraries? You can clean up your street, your neighborhood, or a nearby park! Yes, you CAN! Try it out! It’s an easy and rewarding way to help your neighborhood or another favorite place you want to clean up. Ask at your favorite library branch! Have you tried it yet? When you clean up, be sure to report so we can thank you! http://bit.ly/LibraryCleanupReport
Plastic Bag Recycling: You CAN recycle plastic bags and wrap, but ONLY at store or civic organization drop-offs. As a matter of fact, you can drop them off at Hampton’s community gardens or HCCC to help earn plastic benches for the community gardens. The locations are: North Phoebus Community Center, 249 W. Chamberlin Ave; Phoebus, 124 S. Hope St; Buckroe, 710 Buckroe Ave; or HCCC, 1296 Thomas St. The Hampton Master Gardeners (at Bluebird Gap Farm Arboretum and Demonstration Garden, 60 Pine Chapel Rd) and Peninsula Master Naturalists also collect them, and some schools will collect them for competitions.
We urge you to support your local schools by saving your clean plastic bags and plastic case wrapping for them! There’s a lot at stake for them – prizes ranging from $500 - $1000 or a plastic bench! Winners are selected based on the weight of bags per student, so all the schools need your bags, your neighbors’ bags, and your business or organizations’ bags!
Here’s our list of plastic bag recycling competition schools:
- Armstrong Elementary School, 3401 Matoaka Rd
- Asbury Elementary School, 140 Beach Rd
- Bethel High School, 1067 Big Bethel Rd
- Booker Elementary School, 160 Apollo Dr
- Burbank Elementary School, 40 Tidemill Ln
- Hampton Christian Academy Lower School, NOT A DROP-OFF SITE
- Hampton High School, 1491 West Queen St
- Langley Elementary School, 16 Rockwell Rd
- Phenix Prek – 8 School, 1061 Big Bethel Rd
- Rivermont School, 303 Butler Farm Road, Ste 100
- Spratley Gifted Center, 339 Woodland Rd
Recycling Information: Would you like someone to come to your group and talk about recycling right? Contact hccc@hampton.gov for a presentation! For quick questions, call 311 or HCCC at 727-1130.
Live-cut Christmas Trees can be recycled at curbside if you have curbside collection. If you live in an apartment or condo, you can take your tree to the Yard Waste Transfer Site at 100 N Park Lane, at the entrance to the landfill.
Extra Recyclables because of your holiday festivities? Take them to one of three drop-off sites: The Yard Waste Transfer Site mentioned above; Gosnold’s Hope Park administrative building at 901 E Little Back River Rd; or Briarfield Park by the ball field at 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. 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!
Who Will Be Hampton’s Winter Clean & Green Businesses Award Winner? That’s up to you, in part! Your favorite clean & green business can only win if you nominate it! For more information, contact hccc@hampton.gov or call 727-1130. To nominate a workplace, fill out the form at http://bit.ly/GreenWorkplaceAwardForm.