>>ANNOUNCER: Promoting a healthy environment
It's the air we breathe
clean safe water
responsible management of our natural resources
to protect and restore
for a sustainable future. Environemnt matters.
>>MAN: I just wish they'd quit dumping.
I'm trying to clean up
my home state.
>>NARRATION: They're eyesores you can find all across the state. Ahead, the fight to clean up
illegal dumps.
Plus, finding treasure where others see trash -
how west virginia businesses are seeing recycling help their bottom line.
>>KATHY COSCO: Hello everyone and welcome to Environment Matters. I'm Kathy Cosco
with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.
For some, spring break means a trip to the beach or at least a few days off to
kick back and relax.
But for more than fourteen hundred volunteers, spring break is a time to
roll up their sleeves and join together for a massive statewide cleanup
the DEP's Debbie Hughes catches up with one group for Mason County who has taken
this message to heart.
>>NARRATION: This may look like an Easter egg hunt
but what these kids are finding has no place in an Easter basket.
>>MARK KINCAID: We'll usually find bottles and glass maybe some
really stretchy stuff and maybe even metal.
>>NARRATION: On this day volunteers from the Mountaineers 4-H club are working to
keep their little corner of Mason County clean.
It's part of the Make It Shine statewide cleanup -
a larger effort featuring more than thirty volunteer organizations from
all across West Virginia.
Think it is a two-week long spring cleaning for the state.
>>ELIZABETH BLANKENSHIP We really pick up a lot of litter when we do this
so it just makes it look pretier out here
and you can see how from our bags
that we're picking up.
>>NARRATION: The statewide cleanup is coordinated by REAP, the Rehabilitation Environmental
Action Plan. The program partners with volunteers, contractors and staff to rid
the state of unsightly litter.
For these volunteers, it's about taking ownership of their community.
>>RHONDA BLANKENSHIP: I think the kids just want to do something to help the community
and most of them went to school here and some of them are in high school now they
like coming back and helping out around the school.
I like to see the kids get involved
in their community and doing some community service.
>>NARRATION: The kind of service that usually brings a smile...
>>IZABELLA KING: It makes me feel happy because we're helping clean
the earth and help it be happy as well.
>>MARK KINCAID: Well, we always have a lot of fun and we usually find a lot of trash and the
best part about it is
we are cleaning up our earth.
We like people to learn the lesson not to litter.
>>NARRATION: A lesson these volunteers hope sinks in. In Mason County, I'm Debbie Hughes for
Environment Matters.
>>KATHY COSCO: If you or your civic group would like to volunteer to help make West Virginia the
cleanest state in the nation,
you contact the West Virginia Make it Shine Program for more information
that number is 800-322-5530. You can also
find out more information about REAP many other programs here at the West
Virginia Department of Environmental Protection by visiting our website:
dep.wv.gov
Unfortunately, sometimes the mess is just too big for volunteers to clean up alone
and that's when the DEP's Pollution Prevention and Open Dump program -
P-POD, steps it.
Every year P-POD cleans up around one thousand illegal dump sites around
the state.
As the DEP's Tom Aluise found out on a recent cleanup in Kanawha County, it's a
problem has gotten smaller but shows no sign of going away.
>>BOB MULLINS: I wish they'd stop doing this.
>>NARRATION: You can barely see it from the road but just a few steps off Spring Fork Drive
in Campbell's Creek, the problem the becomes readily apparent.
>>BOB MULLINS: I'm a native of
West Virginia and I wish they'd quit
dumping. I'm trying to clean up
my home state.
>>NARRATION: Bob Mullins is volunteering his time to help clean up this dump.
Residents along Spring Fork say people have dumped truckloads of trash in this
spot leaving muddy, smelly mess. >>CHRIS CARTWRIGHT: We received some complaints
late last week
and had been kind of keeping an eye on the area - there are some other smaller
dumps in the area.
>>NARRATION: Chris Cartwright is the project manager for this site.
He says while legal dumping is still a problem across the state they're seeing
some improvement.
>>CHRIS CARTWRIGHT: We have definitely seen a decreasing the amount of stuff dumped at
each site. We no longer do
a lot of the ten, fifteen, twenty ton variety.
It's all small dumps. The number of dumps we do every year hasn't decreased
but the size of the dumps is definitely going down.
>>NARRATION: One reason for that is community response - reporting illegal dumps before they
grow in the bigger problems.
On particularly active sites the DEP will often place a hidden camera to try and
catch a legal dumpers in the act.
The message:
you will be prosecuted. >>CHRIS CARTWRIGHT: All our contractors have standing orders that
anytime they go
do a dump cleanup and they find bagged garbage to go through the bags, look for names,
look for addresses - things like that so we can find out who's responsible and hopefully
get them prosecuted.
>>NARRATION: And that could in jail time, up to three years in prison and a fifty thousand dollar fine -
something state officials hope will help seal the lid on illegal dumps like this.
In Kanawha County, I'm Tom Aluise for Environment Matters.
>>KATHY COSCO: Since beginning the program, P-POD has removed more than three hundred million
pounds of trash from illegal dumps across the state
and reclaimed more than ten thousand acres of land.
If you see in illegal dump. Contact us here at the Department of Environmental
Protection.
There's also a form available on our website.
Along with cleaning up the illegal dumps,
the P-POD program also helps prevent another major environmental problem:
used tires that are discarded improperly.
They're not only an eyesore went dumped in the landscape they can also present a
serious public health hazard
becoming a breeding ground for mosquitoes that can carry diseases like
West Nile Virus and LaCrosse Encephalitis.
That's why the department of Environmental Protection's tire
collection events have become so popular,
as the DEP's Brett Kessinger found out
one recent Saturday morning.
>>NARRATION: A steady flow of cars, trucks
and SUVs lined up
in Milton - a line that started early.
>>TRAVIS COOPER: We had probably four or five trucks already here today.
We got here a little before eight. It wasn't supposed to start before nine so they were here ready to get rid of the tires.
>>NARRATION: Folks like Erik Weingart of Huntington.
>>ERIK WEINGART: We're just trying to clean up some of our property and
get rid of our tires.
Over time, my father in law
had tractors and tires and he owns greenhouses and tree farms
and a cemetary
and he never got rid of any of them
so we're taking over his cleanup process. >>NARRATION: The process works like this -
the program is for West Virginia residents only and they're limited to ten
tires sixteen inches and smaller.
usually the tires need to be dismounted, but not today.
this is a rim crusher and it makes short work of separating the rims from
the tires.
It's a useful tool
and one reason organizers say turnout at the site is so good.
>>GREG ROTE: It's been good
We've been doing really good. We're up over 1200 tires already today. The most we've gotten here it 1100 so here was
we average between 8 and 11.
>>NARRATION: The tires are packed into trucks
and sent to a monofill facility in Summersville, where they're shredded or stored to be recycled in the future.
As for the rims
they're sent to be recycled
and the money donated to a local non-profit.
It's a win-win situation for everybody.
>>BUD GIBSON: I really appreciate it
you know I have no place to get rid of these tires and I appreciate this.
>>NARRATION: By the end of the day,
eighteen hundred and seventy five times were collected -
a record for Cabel County
in Milton, I'm Brent Kessinger for Environment Matters.
>>KATHY COSCO: The DEP holds tire collection events at least once a year in every county.
Here's a list of some upcoming events.
Remember new dates are being added all the time
so be sure to check our web site for a collection event in your area.
Every year the Department of Environmental Protection recognizes
cities they go above and beyond and their efforts to beautify and clean up
their communities.
This year's winners come from different parts of the state
but community leaders will tell you that they have at least one thing in common.
>>BECKY UHLLY It's a very tight knit community here and if you need something you can just pick
up the phone and call somebody and you know they're going to be there to help you
so we have some good volunteers here.
>>BILL LANHAM: I'm just fortunate that we have a community that dedicated itself
to volunteerism, to that community spirit take makes his community a much better
greener and cleaner community.
>>NARRATION: The village of Beech Bottom in Brooke county and the town of Fayetteville in
Fayette County were
honored with Clean Community awards by the West Virginia Make it Shine program.
For Beech Bottom,
it's a three-peat.
>>BECKY UHLLY: We've won three years in a row. We're very proud that we were
picked again this year. We put a lot of work into the village to make it look
nice and it's nice to be recognized for that.
>>NARRATION: For Fayetteville, to borrow another sports cliche -
It's one for the thumb.
>>BILL LANHAM: We have won the award five
different years.
It's been pretty exciting for the community at large and
the volunteers that participate in our community
for the recognition of our concern for the environment.
>>NARRATION: Each municipality is judged in several categories of environmental stewardship,
including cleanup
recycling, youth participation
and beautification.
The leaders in both communities will tell you that, bottom line,
it comes down to community involvement.
>>BILL LANHAM: One person
can't do it alone.
It takes an entire community. >>BECKY UHLLY: It's just a lot of hands that makes the job easy
for everybody.
>>KATHY COSCO: The Make it Shine program also recognized the Solid Waste Authories in McDowell and
Webster Counties -
presenting them with Clean County awards for their promoting
environmental stewardship
through cleanups, outreach and law enforcement.
If you'd like to find out more about these programs, be sure to check out our
website
dep.wv.gov
and click on the REAP section at the top of the page.
Coming up, finding a new use for some old Christmas trees and why anglers hope
to find some presents hiding under them this summer. >>WOMAN: It's not a hard sell, people getting it
they're saying yes that makes sense to me.
>>KATHY COSCO: Why these folks say Kermit the Frog was wrong, being green isn't
that hard after all. We'll meet with a group that says making sustainable choices is just good business
for West Virginia. But first, did you know there are sixty three million
newspapers printed yesterday and nearly seventy percent will be thrown away.
Recycling just one Sunday paper would save more than half a million trees a week.
We're back in a moment. 224