Public Works and Environmental Services Alert:
The Purple Can at the Mason District Government Center is due for an upgrade and nearby students are being asked to help enhance its appearance with recycling theme artwork.
Community-based organizations in Fairfax County can apply to receive free trees for planting on private properties, through a program by Fairfax County’s Urban and Community Forestry Division (UCFD) of the Department of Public Works and Environmental Services.
To better serve facility users, DPWES has launched a survey for residential and commercial customers. Input from this survey will help guide future improvements and enhance user experience. The survey will be open from January 15 through March 15, 2026.
FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. – Residents can now drop off unwanted hardcover, paperback, and textbooks in the green donation bins at the I-66 Transfer Station in Fairfax. In partnership with New Legacy Books, the county’s Solid Waste Management Program is launching a program to keep used books out of the landfill. Only books with an ISBN barcode are accepted for collection.
Due to its popularity, Fairfax County is expanding its textile recycling pilot. Additional Helpsy collection containers are now available at the I-95 Landfill Complex.
Used Halloween pumpkins can get a second, Earth-friendly life as compost in Fairfax County’s annual Pumpkin Palooza collection drive, now underway until the end of November.
Whether it’s winter coats, batteries, eyeglasses or electronics, unwanted recyclables can be dropped off when the DPWES Solid Waste Management Program (SWMP) hosts the upcoming Fairfax Recycles Day event.
If you’re a kid with artistic talent, or know of any, help us spread the word about the first Solid Waste Management Program (SWMP) Truck Art Design Contest.
When flames are hypothetical and foam flows freely, it’s all part of the plan. On July 16, the Noman M. Cole Jr. Water Recycling Facility hosted a high-stakes training exercise with the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department to simulate a methanol spill response.
Before nine county-acquired homes on Barrett Road in Falls Church are torn down to reduce flooding, firefighters are getting one last chance to use them—for live training.
Climate change continues to exacerbate flooding impacts in Fairfax County and nationwide. Weather-related flooding is still the most common and costly natural disaster across the United States. Fairfax County’s ongoing efforts to mitigate flooding problems for residents can be found in the July 2025 Floodplain Management Plan (FMP) progress report.
It’s that time of year! The Fairfax County Tree Commission is announcing that nominations for its 2024-2025 Friends of Trees Awards are now open and will close on July 31.
A renewable energy solar project in the county, at its completion, will generate enough energy to power about 1,000 homes. Fairfax County will be the first locality in the Commonwealth to begin construction of a solar array on the grounds of a closed landfill.
FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. – A grant valued at $12,353 has been awarded to the DPWES Urban and Community Forestry Division (UCFD) to help manage the invasive tree-of-heaven on county-owned land, and hemlock wooly adelgid at Scott’s Run Nature Preserve and NOVA Park properties in the southern part of the county.
FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. – Thanks in large part to targeted acquisitions and planned demolitions along Barrett Road, Fairfax County has achieved a major milestone in its flood mitigation efforts with the full mitigation of all FEMA-designated Severe Repetitive Loss (SRL) properties.
National Public Works Week (NPWW) is an annual event recognized in the Public Works industry during the third week in May.
You flush. It goes away. But have you ever wondered where it goes—and how it gets there?
Endangered grassland bird species, such as the Eastern meadowlark and grasshopper sparrow, have found refuge in Fairfax County thanks to a 50-acre swath of meadowland atop the I-95 Landfill Complex in Lorton and some modified land management procedures there. Recent efforts by the Department of Public Works and Environmental Services (DPWES) are helping the birds survive and thrive at the…
Fairfax County, Va. – The inaugural Northern Virginia Resiliency Expo will take Fairfax County officials and additional Northern Virginia elected officials, agency directors and other regional leaders to sites in local jurisdictions to tour some flood resiliency projects.
As a part of ongoing efforts to improve the water quality in Dogue Creek, the Department of Public Works and Environmental Services has purchased three parcels of land at 8800 Richmond Highway. The county is funding the land acquisition with a $2.8 million Virginia Community Preparedness Fund (CFPF) grant and the Stormwater Service District Fund. This is part of a multi-decade effort to preserve…
A new multilingual public engagement website has been launched by Fairfax County to facilitate public feedback on the Smaller Lake Accotink Preservation Feasibility Study.
FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va - A textile recycling pilot program has been launched in the county. In partnership with a New Jersey-based company called Helpsy, the DPWES Solid Waste Management Program is implementing the pilot to provide residents with a convenient way to recycle unwanted textiles.
