The City of Virginia Beach has created a customized, voluntary, single-stream, automated recycling program for its residents. Developed in 1997 and implemented in conjunction with TFC Recycling, the program services 124,000 residences, 94 City schools and related buildings, 106 municipal buildings, and five public-use recycling drop-off sites. In 2009, the City of Virginia Beach recovered nearly 23,800 tons of paper and paper-based packaging for recycling - more than 68 percent of all recyclables collected.

• In 2010, 63.5 percent of the paper used in the U.S. was recovered for recycling. This represents an 89 percent increase in the recovery rate since 1990.
• Every ton of paper recycled saves more than 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space.
• 87 percent (268 million) of Americans have access to curbside or drop-off paper recycling programs.
• In 2010 the amount of paper recovered for recycling averaged 334 pounds for each man, woman and child in the United States.