TUESDAY, JUNE 17, 2014

Natural Organic Process Enterprises (NOPE) collects compostable waste from institutions, restaurants, schools, and businesses, and through an agreement with Enrichmond, turns the waste into compost for use by Enrichmond's participating partners. Companies that qualify but have no use for the compost get credits instead, and they can use the credits to donate compost to non-profits.

Recently, for instance, Watkins Nursery matched the Hilton Garden Hotel's donation to the Richmond Grows Gardens program for use at the Crafty Kids community garden at 404 Broad Rock Road and the Owl Orchard community garden at 801 W. 44th Street. The goal is to get all the community gardens as much compost as they need.

Organic waste recycling is a growing trend and is part of a comprehensive sustainability plan. Organic waste is anything that once lived or grew. NOPE focuses primarily on food waste and provides the logistical know-how for companies and institutions to support organic recycling by separating food waste from recyclable and non-recyclable waste. NOPE provides instruction and materials to partners to get them started, schedules and provides small batch collection and transportation to accredited compost facilities.

The Hilton Garden Inn in downtown Richmond composts all of its food waste, supports recycling projects in local schools, and collects used soap for recycling in support of international mission projects. The hotel won the 2013 Virginia Green Travel Star award.

TUESDAY, MAY 6, 2014

Richmond won the East Coast region of the Dig This competition sponsored by Bell Helmets. The local project is one of three nationwide to receive an equal share of $100,000.

Developers of the Richmond Regional Ride Center will use the money to rehabilitate 15 miles of existing mountain bike trail and construct an additional 20 miles at Pocahontas State Park, offering trails at a variety of skill levels. That would help efforts to designate the area an International Mountain Bicycling Association Ride Center, of which there are only 17 currently in the country.

The city collaborated with the state and Chesterfield County to be designated as an IMBA Ride Center, the first urban-focused ride center by virtue of our great--and expanding--mountain bike trails. Pocahontas State Park will see additional trails, including some designed specifically for access by hand cyclists--with an emphasis on paralyzed vets. Getting greenways and on-road routes built will also be central to linking these amenities in Richmond and Chesterfield.

THURSDAY, MAY 1, 2014

The city's Bike Master Plan is nearing completion. The commission has been working with a consulting team to develop a network of proposed bike routes throughout the city and is now opening the draft for public review and comment.

An online interactive map has been created that allows users to log comments and draw their suggested edits on the map.

A commission meeting is scheduled for May 14, 2-4 p.m., on the 5th floor of City Hall to discuss the recommendations and plan.

A Bike Master Plan Open House is scheduled for Wednesday, May 14, 6-8 p.m., at the Carillon in Byrd Park to present the network maps and recommendations, and engage in dialogue on what needs to be refined. Maps and moderators will be on hand to facilitate discussions and suggested edits to the network.

The network recommendations will serve as the blueprint for better bike infrastructure, so the commission needs stakeholders to provide critical feedback. Please read the map instructions, particularly the part about turning off other comments so you can better navigate the map. If you can't see the whole screen, use scroll bars on the bottom and left. The map can pinpoint specific locations as well as draw routes and provide comments associated with them. In particular, the commission needs feedback on:

• Route recommendations. Did they capture the right streets? Are critical streets or destinations missing. Remember this is limited to the city limits.
• Problem locations -- Any bad intersections or segments that need addressing?
• Facility type -- The legend shows the types of facilities proposed. Determine if the recommended infrastructure is appropriate for that route.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 2014

The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, in partnership with Timmons Group and SRRN Games, have produced a Facebook game, Stormwater Sentries, designed to educate the public about how their actions impact local streams, rivers, and the Chesapeake Bay.

Game players take on missions to clean up trash, pick up after their pet, plant native trees, shrubs, flowers and rain gardens, reduce impervious surfaces, install rain barrels, and more environmental related activities.
As missions are completed, the player sees water quality improve in the local stream and they qualify for advanced missions to restore the stream buffer to provide a habitat for wildlife.

On Facebook, go to www.facebook.com/stormwatersentriesgame.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 2014

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