Fairfax County recently began accepting food scraps for composting at the two solid waste management facilities, the I-95 Landfill Complex and the I-66 Transfer Station. They are open seven days a week, Monday - Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 7 a.m. - 4 p.m. You can drop off your food scraps into one of the green bins.
In addition to these sites, four farmers markets have added food scrap composting. Please visit the farmers market webpages below for scheduled dates and hours before you go!
- Saturday - Burke Farmers Market
5671 Roberts Parkway (VRE Parking Lot)
Burke, VA, 22015
- Sunday - Freshfarm Farmers Market Mosaic District
2910 District Ave.
Fairfax, VA 22031
Compost will only be collected when the farmers market is operating. In other words, do not drop off food scraps if there is no one there to receive it. There will be someone there at each farmers market to help you.
How Does It Work?
While you’re cooking dinner, scrape the trimmings from your vegetables or pieces of meat into your countertop container. This could be potato peels, bones, or egg shells. If you had coffee or tea, the grounds or the tea bag can go in too. After dinner, you can scrape whatever’s left on you plate into the container. You may choose to keep your food waste in your fridge or freezer before you’re ready to take it to the drop-off site. Or you may choose to use a sealed countertop container. Do whatever works for you.
When you’ve accumulated a good amount of food waste, it’s time to drop it off at the location that’s most convenient for you. If you lined the bucket with a compostable liner, you can throw that in too. If you used a regular plastic bag, you’ll need to empty the food scraps into the container and throw away the plastic bag separately. Rinse the bucket out when you get home. And pat yourself on the back – you just made a difference.
Please repurpose reusable, or compostable containers, bags, boxes, or bins for the purpose of transporting your food scraps to the drop-off sites. For more information, or general inquiries regarding this program, contact the Outreach Team at 703-324-5230.
The graphic below should tell you everything you need to know about what you can, and cannot, place into the food waste bins. It is important to keep contaminants like plastic bags, pet waste, and wrappers out of the bin. This is a pilot program; the goal is to find out if we can successfully collect food waste to be turned into high-quality compost. It will take all of us working together to make this pilot a success that we can build upon.
