For more information on recycling and Executive Order 17, you can read the Report on Opportunities for Attracting Post-Consumer Recycling Product Business Entities to the Commonwealth. 

Americans today recycle less than they did a generation ago, yet there are more opportunities for post-consumer recycled products than ever before. The State Agency Initiative to Encourage Recycling directs all executive branch agencies to increase awareness of the importance of recycling, better capture recyclable material, and encourage the use of post-consumer recycled (PCR) products and biodegradable materials. DEQ has developed information to raise awareness about the value of recycling and shared it with other agencies as a resource.

For more information on food waste and the implementation of Executive Order 17 see the Report on Food Waste Reduction Strategies. 

Food waste is the most common material landfilled and incinerated in the United States. DEQ, in conjunction with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, is working with large-scale suppliers of food to identify appropriate strategies to reduce food waste consistent with DEQ's Food Management Hierarchy:

• Reduce Food Waste: Reduce the volume of surplus food generated.
• Donate Extra Food: Donate extra food to food banks, soup kitchens and shelters.
• Feed Animals: Divert food scraps to animal feed.
• Industrial Uses: Render fat, oil, and grease into a raw material to make biodiesel, soaps, cosmetics and other products. Anaerobic digestion of food scraps and waste oils produces biogas that can generate heat and electricity, fiber that can be used as a nutrient-rich soil conditioner and liquid that can be used for fertilizer.
• Composting: Create a nutrient-rich soil amendment.

DEQ, in conjunction with the Virginia Economic Development Partnership and other stakeholders, will report on opportunities for attracting businesses that use post-consumer recycled material as raw materials to the Commonwealth

The EO also directs the Waste Diversion and Recycling Task Force to discuss ways to encourage new recycling related businesses, including collection, processing and manufacturing facilities, to locate in the Commonwealth and include any recommendations in their next report.