The Virginia Beach City Council held a workshop on September 1, 2026, to receive a presentation on Zero Waste Awareness Week, discuss liaison reports, review agenda items including a resolution for Atlantic Park Development and planning items, and vote to recess into closed session.
We're about ready to start the meeting. Mr. Dehaney, what do we got? So, Mr. Mayor, members of council, as you all know, this is Zero Waste Awareness Week. We'll be joined by members of our Virginia Beach Clean Communities Committee Committee. And also Christy Rhines of our public works department to give City Council overview of the campaign regarding zero waste awareness. Welcome. Also, Chair Stevens as well. Okay. All right. Good afternoon, members of council. I'm really excited and honored to be here. My name is Terry Stevens, and I am the chair of the Virginia Beach Clean Community Commission. The commission was established in 1980 by City Council with the mission to beautify our city, help with litter prevention, recycling correctly, and provide environmental awareness through education. In keeping with our mission, the city of Virginia Beach has been a catalyst in the zero waste awareness movement. Christy Rhines is our liaison to our commission with waste management. A couple years ago, she created a logo for Zero Waste Awareness Week. And that logo has been spread not just in the city or the Commonwealth, but across our nation through the Keep America Beautiful program. In keeping with our mission also, the commission hosts two totally free events that are open to our residents, where residents can donate their clothing that they no longer want, and it can be reused by another resident in our city. That is called our zero waste wardrobe event. I have a flyer right here that I will pass out to you guys. I'd love for you to share it in your district. The next one will be at the Turkey Bowl in November, which will be at Salem High School. She should be commended for her creativity and her dedication to our city. And now I am happy to introduce Christy, and she's going to share with you the Zero Waste Awareness Week social media campaign, which will start September 6th and continue through September 12th. Thank you. That really said the stage, didn't it? See how that works for me. A few of you may know me as the recycling coordinator for the city as well. So we're gonna roll through this real quick. I don't want to take up too much of your time, but this is Zero Waste Awareness Week at seven days, seven ways, one beautiful Virginia Beach. So a little bit about your commission, and at least for the 10 people at home watching. Excuse me, the Virginia Beach uh keep Virginia Beach Beautiful. Um, and as you'll see up there through volunteer uh volunteerism, education, beautification, litter prevention, recycling, and of course now zero waste. They continue to promote uh sustainable Virginia Beach. So we're did this all start. So in 2023, the Virginia Beach City Council recognized the first full week in September as Zero Waste Awareness Week. The Virginia General Assembly picked that up last year. Um, and they passed uh House Joint Resolution 446, which does declare the first full week in September every year and there every year thereafter as Zero Waste Awareness Week. And that is supposedly going to be recognized across the Commonwealth. And this is the logo that uh Terry was speaking about. So this is the launch. So this is the first of the uh series of posters that'll go out. Um, this is Zero Waste Awareness Week, as Terry mentioned, September the 6th through the 12th of this year, and we're calling for everybody to reimagine seven days to see waste differently. Oh, too far. There we go. Um, seven days, seven ways, one beautiful Virginia Beach is the slogan. Reduce, reuse, repurpose, repair, reware, refuse, rethink. All the ways that you can minimize waste before you ever get it to a trash can or a recycle card.