Responsible management of our natural resources. We protect and restore - for a sustainable

future. Environment Matters. >>Clement Solomon: "We felt that there was

a need to take a holistic approach to sustainability and institutionalize it from the senior leadership

as well as all the way down to the operational level."

>>NARRATION: A look at how West Virginia's two largest universities are incorporating

sustainability principles into everyday campus life -- Plus:

>>RANDY HUFFMAN: "We don't throw things that are valuable into our landfills. We don't

waste resources and we try to do what's smart -- not just for today but for our future."

>>NARRATION: The DEP hands out more than two million dollars in recycling grants to help

communities all across the state with their recycling programs...

>>GREG ADOLFSON: Hello everybody and welcome to Environment Matters. I'm Greg Adolfson

with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.

For more than 20 years, the DEP has partnered with communities to start, grow and sustain

local recycling programs through its annual recycling grant program. The DEP's Tom Aluise

has more. >>NARRATION: Forty groups from twenty nine

West Virginia counties were honored at a recent reception here at DEP headquarters. This year's

grant recipients will share 2.2 million dollars. Grants were awarded to state solid waste authorities,

county commissions, municipalities, private industries and nonprofit organizations. Since

its beginning twenty two years ago, the REAP program has awarded more than 33 million dollars

to programs all across the state. The program is funded through a one dollar fee per ton

of waste hauled to landfills in the state. DEP Cabinet Secretary Randy Huffman thanked

the group for their efforts... >>RANDY HUFFMAN: "I've worked with a lot of

folks at the local level from all areas of the state and I've seen what kind of difference

that energetic, hardworking people that are doing the right things for the right reasons

can make. Whatever it is that needs to be done to make things better really has to start

on the ground within the communities in which you live and work and what we try to do here

at DEP is be partners with that. Two million dollars a year is not going to solve our recycling

problems. It's not going to create a robust recycling program in and of itself and certainly,

from Charleston, state government can't do that for you -- but you can do it with a little

help and that's what we're doing here." >>NARRATION: Money from the DEP grant program

can be used by the groups to help leverage additional grant funding so that the two million

awarded this year can be the seed money for many more millions in resources -- money that

can be used to pay for personnel, equipment, transportation and perhaps most importantly

-- education and outreach. >>RANDY HUFFMAN: "Still garbage laying around.

There's still trash that needs to be cleaned up but just the mindset of our citizens -- I

think it's changed and I think it started with the amount of education we're doing with

our children. We had a lot of school programs. We've spent a lot of time and effort to try

and educate the younger generation who are now young adults and they have a completely

different way of viewing how these kinds of things are preferred to be done. It's not

just from the standpoint of not throwing your trash over the hill. That was the first objective

but very quickly the culture has transformed into that of resource management to include

recycling which is a big part of what you all are here about today so that we don't

throw things that are valuable into our landfills. We don't waste resources and we try to do

what's smart -- not just for today but for our future."

>>NARRATION: A future that leads to a cleaner West Virginia. In Charleston, I'm Tom Aluise

for Environment Matters. >>GREG ADOLFSON: Secretary Huffman says the

amount of waste entering West Virginia landfills has actually decreased significantly over

the last 20 years -- from over 2 million tons a year in the mid-eighties to roughly one

and a half million tons annually now... Finding a place to dispose of those old televisions,

computers and tablets in an environmentally responsible way has always been a challenge.

Since 2011, it's been illegal to dispose of what's called a "covered electronic device"

-- basically anything with a video screen bigger than 4 inches -- into a West Virginia

landfill and that's where electronics recycling events like one held recently here at DEP

headquarters can help. The DEP's Sarah Alford joins us now with the details.

>>SARAH ALFORD: Greg, you'll find them gathering dust in basements, garages and back rooms

all across the state -- those once cutting edge pieces of electronics made obsolete by

the newest, latest technology. >>NARRATION: They came in cars, vans and trucks...

>>VALERIE BONE: "Opportunity to get rid of some hard drives and some monitors and printers

that we've had in our basement for ages." >>NARRATION: A steady stream of old tube televisions,

obsolete computers and all manner of worn out, broken, unwanted electronics... Large...

and not so large... >>RECYCLER "I need some help... I'm so proud

of him -- this is all he had but he was kind enough not to just throw it out into the environment.

He wanted to bring it here where it would be disposed of properly."

>>JIM CORDAS: "We'll take all these trailer loads back to Cincinnati, take it to our processing

center. We'll put it through the shredders. Shred the equipment. Send metals in one direction,

aluminum in another direction -- we'll send gold and other precious metals in another

direction -- they all go to the smelters. >>NARRATION: Jim Cordas is with 2-TRG, the

recycling company that's handling the disposal from today's event...

>>JIM: The monitors, we have to cut the glass. Send leaded glass to a smelter that is certified

to process the lead in the glass. Clean glass, we'll send to a different smelter. Green boards

that are in computers, we'll take that and smelt that down to get the metals off of that.

We're one of the few companies in the area that are certified to be an e-steward and

that's a national organization that is above and beyond EPA regulated recyclers so we make

sure that nothing gets exported over to other countries, nothing goes into landfills so

everything is reclaimed out of the equipment." >>NARRATION: And that's important because

these devices contain things like mercury, lead and other hazardous materials -- things

that, if not properly handled, could escape into the environment...

>>DANNY HAUGHT: We know for a fact that they're going to the right place. They're going to

the proper places. They're not going over a hillside...

>>SARAH ALFORD: Turnout for this year's event was down from last year, but organizers say

that's not a bad thing. State law actually requires waste haulers to pick up televisions

and computers and landfill operators to hold them until they can be hauled off by a qualified

electronics recycler -- although that sometimes involves a surcharge -- and organizers say

many consumers are taking advantage of that. Greg, these free events are still quite popular

-- about 30 thousand pounds of electronics were hauled off from this one. For Environment

Matters, I'm Sarah Alford. >>GREG: Thanks, Sarah. The state has set up

a website to help consumers, waste haulers and landfill operators navigate the process.

You can find it by searching e-waste West Virginia. We have a link to it on the Environment

Matters Google + page. One of the best ways to reduce the amount

of material that goes into our landfills is by recycling but that's not the only benefit.

As we first told you back in August, schools in Raleigh County are turning their trash

into cash. The program has been so successful, it's become a model for the rest of the state

and so we thought it was worth another look. The DEP's Mike Huff has their story.

>>NARRATION: The recycling center at the Raleigh County Landfill is a busy place -- due in

no small part to the steady stream of material from 37 recycling bins placed at schools throughout

the county. Started in 2001, the program has grown from

11 schools and 47 tons of recyclables to more than 30 schools and nearly 400 tons this past

school year -- St. Francis School in Beckley was one of those

original 11 schools. Karen Wynne is the principle. >>Reporter question: Why did you guys decide

to get involved with the program? >>KAREN WYNNE: Well, have you met Sherrie

Hunter? She's very persuasive." >>NARRATION: Sherrie Hunter is Director of

Education for the Raleigh County Solid Waste Authority and, frankly, a force of nature.

She says the numbers have exceeded even her most optimistic estimates...

>>SHERRIE HUNTER: "We knew, we knew that we were on the verge of something that was going

to evolve and become much, much bigger. So now I'm going to fast forward. In twelve school

years, we have cumulatively recycled 37-hundred tons of recycling and schools have earned

$169,000 dollars from what would have been in the trash."

>>NARRATION: The schools recycle newspaper, cardboard, office paper, aluminum cans and

plastics. Each classroom has a recycling bin and students are taught what goes in -- and

what doesn't... >>KAREN: "You know, your homework that you

didn't want to take home to mom doesn't necessarily go in there but any paper and tear down boxes

and things like that, they do. We also do plastic bottles because the kids often have

those kinds of things in the classroom..." >>NARRATION: But the program is about more

than recycling and financial benefits. It's teaching a life lesson...

>>KAREN: "it's part of our character education. We're citizens of the Earth so we are stewards

of the Earth. So we're trying to get across to the students to be respectful of our environment

and part of that is by not littering, by not cluttering the landfill with things that don't

need to be there..." >>SHERRIE: " So it's important for us educators

to make sure that children embrace that and inspire them that they can do something individually

you can make a difference one little milk jug at a time, one little piece of paper at

a time. Because then you've kind of started -- that's your behavior modification starting

off when you're real, real young. And you go ooh I've been a part of recycling for how

long? For all of my life. >>NARRATION: And that message is getting through...

>>MORGAN WILLIAMS: "It's very important because unless we want our earth to become a giant

trash pile then we need to recycle. We recycle at my house definitely so every person even

if they have to drive like 17 miles to get to where they're going to recycle everyone

needs to recycle." >>NARRATION: In Beckley, I'm Mike Huff for

Environment Matters. >>GREG: The program also helps folks who live

outside Beckley where curbside recycling is not an option. They can, and do, bring their

recyclables to the school which helps their local schools to earn more money. Organizers

say it helps get the whole community involved. Coming up:

>>MARGIE PHILLIPS: "we looked at recycling first and we've let everything expand out

from that point." >>NARRATION: A look at how West Virginia college

campuses are getting greener: We'll check in with Marshall and WVU -- the state's two

biggest universities and see how the message of sustainability is becoming an integral

part of campus life. Plus: How switching to more energy efficient Christmas

decorations can make a difference you can see -- and feel. Those stories and more when

Environment Matters continues...