City Wins Virginia Green Travel Leader Award

The City of Richmond has won a Virginia Green Travel Leader Award, in the category of Most Innovative and Impactful Green Project, for the initiatives put into place by the RVA Green Team.

RVA Green Team is a partnership of the City of Richmond Sustainability Office, HandsOn Greater Richmond and the Virginia Green Travel Alliance to recruit, train and deploy volunteers to help special events in the city become more sustainable by reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill and enhancing the overall sustainability of events.

Due to their efforts, the RVA Green Team helped reduce the environmental footprint in the City of Richmond by decreasing the amount of waste sent to landfills. From January through October of 2016, 42,424 pounds of waste were diverted from landfills, which includes a 59 percent recycle rate over 14 events held during that time.

The RVA Green Team achieved these results by increasing the amount of recycling and composting at events throughout the City of Richmond. RVA Green Team volunteers helped attendees sort and divert their waste into the right containers.

“Congratulations to the RVA Green Team, and thank you to the many volunteers whose hard work helps improve the quality of life for our residents, and to create a healthy environment for everyone who lives, works, and plays in the City of Richmond,” said Mayor Levar M. Stoney.

On February 17, 2017, the Virginia Green program will recognize outstanding Virginia tourism businesses from across the Commonwealth for their voluntary efforts to reduce the environmental impacts of their operations.

The awards will be presented during the Virginia Green Travel Awards Luncheon. which will be held from Noon until 1:15 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 17, 2017. Virginia’s First Lady Dorothy McAuliffe will be attending the luncheon and presenting the awards.