Belvedere Elementary School won a $750 grant last month in the Keeping Virginia Beautiful (KVB) “30 Grants in 30 Days” program.

KVB’s grant program focuses greater resources and attention on organizations and individual localities through Virginia and how they are addressing the issues of litter prevention, recycling, waste reduction, beautification and education.

Last school year, Belvedere Elementary, located at 6450 Columbia Pike, Falls Church, reached a 20 percent recycling rate. This year the school is aiming for a recycling rate of over 30 percent.

They plan to use the grant to expand their recycling program to include outdoor bins near its playground, outdoor classroom and fields, which are all used not only during the school day, but also after school and on weekends by the surrounding community. They plan to include signage near their new bins to encourage positive waste reduction behavior.

The Annandale campus of Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC) also won a grant from KVB. NVCC received a $1,000 grant for their cigarette litter prevention program.