Fairfax County plans to overhaul waste collections
Fairfax County is developing a new trash and recycling collection system.
The Department of Public Works and Environmental Services is working on a Unified Sanitation District model, with all trash and recycling collections handled by private companies contracted by the county.
Matthew Adams, director of the solid waste management program, described the new concept at a meeting of the Board of Supervisors’ Environmental Committee on Dec. 10.
For single-family homes, private companies would be granted exclusive rights to collect and manage waste collections in a specific geographic area.
“This approach can significantly improve waste management in the community by introducing contractually standardized efficient and effective services,” Adams said. “The contracted collector would be held to a strict performance standard, ensuring consistent and reliable services.”
Adams said that model could lead to better resource allocation, technological advancement, improved customer service, and lower collection costs.
In addition, he said, streamlining operations and reducing inefficiencies “can lead to a cleaner, healthier community.” Reducing the number of large collection vehicles on the road could result in less greenhouse gas emissions.
DPWES predicts competitive pricing could result in annual cost savings of 25 percent for residents.
According to Adams, the Unified Sanitation District model would be phased in from 2030 to 2034 for 300,000 single-family residences. Implementation of the more complex system for multifamily and commercial customers would be done from 2038 to 2045.
According to the timeline presented to the board, county staff will submit the Unified Sanitary District proposal to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality by April 1. The state requires approval by the DEQ.
Private collectors will be notified about the new model this spring. A public hearing is expected to be held in early summer 2025.
DPWES is also proposing a flexible payment model based on the size of trash carts.
Customers with less trash can use a smaller cart and pay less, which Adams referred to as “pay as you throw” and “waste less, save more.”
A 95-gallon bin will be the standard size, but customers could opt for a 64 or 32-gallon container. A much smaller bin would be used for food scraps collected for composting. Another bin would be used for yard waste, which would be collected at no additional fee.
The county will need to develop a new facility to handle the increase in organic material, Adams said. Planning for the organics processing facility is in the early stages; a location hasn’t been determined.
Implementing the Unified Sanitation District will require a significant investment, he said. That will entail 63 new staff positions, mostly for enforcement to ensure the contractors are following the rules.
The plan also calls for zero waste events where people can drop off items for recycling, and later on, permanent zero waste centers.
That initiative, to start in 2027, would be supported by a zero waste fee charged to waste collection customers.
12 responses to “Fairfax County plans to overhaul waste collections”
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For my 2 cents, this is a horrible idea.
When something goes wrong, like has been seen with private collectors in Fairfax county, how does the county respond? If leaf collection is an example of how DPWES is able to plan and execute contracted services, it is unreasonable to expect trash to not get picked up for a month?
And to the whole pay less for a smaller container idea, this is just a recipe for litter everywhere.
Look at anywhere where there is more trash than the container can take, and there is litter, and noone is gonna pick it up. I’ve never seen or heard of the county writing fines for litter.
I’m extremely skeptical that giving private companies local monopolies will lower collection costs or improve services.
Then again this program isn’t even supposed to launch for 5 years and it’ll take TWENTY ONE YEARS to be fully implemented!!
Why are they giving it such a long timeline? Either this program is a good idea, in which case you should implement it ASAP or it’s a bad idea and shouldn’t be done. Having a 21 year phase-in is just stupid for something like this.
As the new model is developed they could include all those county streets that are now outside the collection district because they were not included 50 years ago in the original mapping. An example would be part of the Pinecrest area of Mason.
What’s happening to curbside recycling? Replaced by “events?” How does that help? We recycle more than we throw away.
I hope we’re reading it wrong, but if they’re truly going to stop curbside recycling, you can bet most families won’t even try anymore. “Zero Waste,” my arse!!
Curbside recycling is not going away. They are actually adding curbside recycling of food scraps. The recycling events are geared for large items.
I am very supportive of this effort. I think it is terrific that this initiative will result in the creation of 63 new staff positions within Fairfax County Government. Also amazing will be the new zero waste fee charged to waste collection customers because it is so important for Fairfax County Government to expand its financial revenue sources beyond just property taxes.
New government jobs are terrific for the local economy because they are well paying jobs with good benefits, and I am certain the affluent people and businesses of Fairfax County are more than willing to shell out more from their heavy pockets to support this noble effort by their local County Government.
This is a true Win-Win!!!
Bottom Line Upfront: This plan is government at it’s worst. Right now many, like the Camelot subdivision, have a healthy trash and recycling service selection with choices of American, Republic, Bates, or Evergreen. We can choose our service provider based on the level and type of service. If we want all types of waste picked up on the same day and you want to be able to include glass in your recycling stream, you pick Evergreen. If you want low cost, you pick Bates. If you prefer separate days of pickup because you reuse the big bin to contain refuse one day and then yards waste the next, you pick American or Republic. If you are unhappy with your price of service, you need only talk to your neighbor, ask for a copy of their bill, and furnish it to your provider and tell them to match the cost or you will walk. This is how a free market economy is supposed to work.
Government should never pick winners and losers in a free market economy. They should only make sure the playing field is level. They can do that with regulation and not with blowing up the whole buisness model. If the County wants to reduce the total volume of waste generated, then require that service providers offer two different sizes of waste cans. If the County wants to further decrease the total waste stream, increase the tipping fee at the landfills for the waste collectors. They will pass that cost back on to the consumer and they will then subsequently choose a smaller waste bin. If the county wants Composting of food scraps, then require a Compost collection; or convert the Yard Debris collection to a general Compostable goods collection. The food scraps and yard debris all end up at the same place, a commercial composting facility, so why have 2 collections for one terminus location.
Also, the idea that the County would have zero waste is a farce. All processes, including recycling processes, have waste. Plastics can only be recycled so many times before they have to be incinerated or converted back to oil using an energy intensive pyrolysis process. Paper can only be recycled so many times before the fibers get too short and cannot be recycled any more times.
Finally, the fact that this idea is going to grow the government by 62 persons should be an immediate red flag. If this idea were truely going to be more cost efficient, it would not add middlemen to a process that is already working. That is 62 more Union employees with bloated salaries and lifetime pensions that need to be paid for by the county tax payers. That number is further concerning since this plan would rely on corporate service providers which should shrink the government since they will be killing the Fairfax County Government run residential trash collection program and selling off all their trash trucks and assets. So really, how many desk jobs are you creating with this program and how many are being killed with the ending of county residential collection program?
Makes total sense to me. That’s how trash collection was always managed where I grew up near Chicago and there was never a problem. Why should every neighborhood have trucks from different companies running around every day of the week, when everyone’s trash can be collected much more efficiently on the same day? I was very surprised when I moved to this area and found out we had to pick our own trash company.
And it will only take 68 new county employees. What a deal!
This is a terrible idea! So now the county is going to tell me what trash company I can use. Prices will be less competitive and taxes will go up to pay for the 63 new county employees to monitor the trash companies!
This is absurd!
More government employees means less money/payments to the actual provider of sanitation services which ultimately results in high cost with low service standards.