At the Aug. 26 Board of Supervisors meeting, Fairfax County Supervisor Walter Alcorn introduced a motion to create a high-level plan before the county considers moving forward with county-managed trash and recycling collection called a unified sanitation district. The board passed his motion, and read his statement explaining why a plan with options and alternatives should be publicly presented first:

Current Trash Collection System: Pros and Cons

There’s probably no issue that’s more relevant to local government than collecting trash and recycling.

While many other local governments in the D.C. region pick up the trash themselves, most Fairfax County residents and homeowners associations have their refuse and recycling collected by private companies under Fairfax County regulations. While this system can work well, there also have been times when it doesn’t, such as during the pandemic years and afterwards when some residents complained to me about poor service and little to no options.

Under the current system, single-family homeowners are left on their own to negotiate the best prices and service unless they’re represented by an HOA or have county trash collection. It’s like the Wild West.

As a result, these residents may not be getting the best prices. I compare it to the difference between paying a retail versus wholesale price. These individual, single-family residents often end up paying the higher, retail price because they can’t negotiate a better bulk, wholesale price.

As a county, we’re also facing environmental challenges. We're trying to reduce the amount of waste thrown out and facilitate recycling during a time of major changes in this industry. There’s also the big question of how to compost, something we’re just starting to figure out.

To try to address these and related issues, Fairfax County staff proposed a county-managed/privately operated trash and recycling system to help improve services, reduce costs and protect the environment. Called a unified sanitation district, the county would competitively bid the best (wholesale) prices with private companies to pick up trash. To move to such a system, however, state law requires a five-year waiting period before making any changes along these lines.

Residents Deserve Answers on Unified Sanitation District

Because there was no clear plan on how a unified sanitation district would work — including who would be in it and who would not, whether residents could opt out or not, and whether smaller private haulers would have a role in the new system — residents and waste haulers understandably were left with unanswered questions.

For me, the question became whether the county should develop a high-level plan for a better system for residents in our single family homes before this five-year waiting period began or during the five-year countdown.

I believe both residents and waste haulers deserve to understand what’s proposed before we move forward.

What's Next: A Plan for a Unified Sanitation District with Options and Alternatives

For this reason, I introduced a motion to create a high-level plan, and the Board of Supervisors passed it at our meeting yesterday. It also calls for providing options for a modified unified sanitation district or alternatives that would achieve the same goals. And, it directs county staff to publicly present this plan before we hold a public hearing to initiate the five-year waiting period.

Ultimately, my goal is to provide residents with simpler, more efficient trash and recycling service however it’s accomplished. There will be more information forthcoming as county staff get to work.

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