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Fairfax County, Virginia
Fairfax County Virginia
Fairfax County Virginia

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Public Works and Environmental Services

  1. Home
  2. Public Works and Environmental Services
  3. Recycling and Trash
  4. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Public Works and Environmental Services Alert:

CONTACT INFORMATION: Our office is open 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., Mon. - Fri.
703-324-5230 TTY 711
trashmail@fairfaxcounty.gov
12000 Government Center Parkway
Suite 458, Fairfax, Va 22035
@ffxPublicWorks
Eric Forbes
Director, Solid Waste Management

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Before recycling, consider ways to reduce your trash, reuse items in other ways, then recycle where possible before throwing stuff away.

Department Resources

  • Recycling and Trash Home
  • Contact Us
    • Contact us - agency listing
    • Email us - online feedback form
  • Report a Problem
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  • Disposal Centers
    • Locations and Hours
    • Holiday Hours
    • Household Hazardous Waste
    • Electronic Recycling
    • Free Mulch
  • At Home Pick Up
    • Registered Solid Waste Collection Companies
    • County Recycling and Trash Collection Customers
    • County Vacuum Leaf Collection Customers
    • County Collection Customer Notices
  • Pay Your Bill Online
  • Recycle or Trash - What Goes Where?
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Christmas and Holiday Trees

Disposal and Recycling Guidelines:

  • Drop-Off Locations. Fairfax County residents can recycle holiday trees at the I-66 Transfer Station (I-66) or the I-95 Landfill Complex (I-95) with a recycling fee. Remove all ornaments, decorations, tinsel, and stands before you drop it off.
  • Recycling Real Trees. Licensed collectors must collect and recycle real Christmas trees under 8 feet in single-family and townhouse communities during the first two weeks of January. Contact your collection service for details.
  • Pick up Free Mulch. The trees are placed in a wood-chipper with other brush and recycled. Residents can pick up this mulch for free at I-66 and I-95.
  • Donating Artificial Trees. Donate artificial trees in good condition to charitable organizations. For options, visit the Human Services Resources Guide.
  • Tree Lights Recycling. Tree lights can be recycled year-round for free at electronic waste locations at I-66 and I-95.
  • Environmental Reminder. Do not dispose of live Christmas trees, trash, or yard waste in Fairfax County parks. It is illegal and harms the environment.

Tree Stumps

Must be free of most dirt. Stumps can be taken to the I-66 Transfer Station or I-95 Landfill Complex for disposal.

 

Trash and Recycling Notice:

Fairfax County Solid Waste Management Program Launches Request for Expressions of Interest to Shape the Future of Waste, Recycling, and Zero Waste Innovation

 

Subscribe to Fairfax Recycles

Fairfax Recycles is an electronic newsletter that is delivered for free to your inbox four times per year. Stay informed about Fairfax County Solid Waste Management events and news.
Subscribe

Recycling Right in Fairfax County

Keeping communities clean and healthy. The curbside recycling bin program is designed to collect specific materials. Click on the link at right to open the flyer which will tell you which items you can always place in your curbside recycling bin and which you cannot.

Download the flyer for more information.

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Glass Recycling and the Purple Can Club

You can recycle glass in Fairfax County, just not in your curbside recycling bin. Glass placed in a purple container is recycled into new materials in as little as 30 days.

Learn more about Glass Recycling

Please don't place plastic bags in recycling bins

Plastic bags get wrapped around the rollers and stop the conveyor belt. Workers then remove the bags by hand. Plastic bags that make it past the rollers contaminate the other recyclable materials. Please take bags back to the grocery store, place them in the trash, or choose reusable bags

Reduce / Reuse

Source reduction is the first goal of sustainability; then reuse. Recycling is last. Try to reduce waste in the first place, or reuse items before recycling. Give unwanted or unneeded clothing, household goods, books, etc. a second life by donating them to worthy causes. Reducing waste by repurposing unwanted but usable goods is an important part of the Fairfax County Environmental Vision.

Please recycleRecycle

You should be able to recycle everywhere you go - at home, at work, and at play. If you are concerned that there is no recycling available at a location you frequent, call us at 703-324-5230.

View The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) answers to some of the most common recycling questions at EPA's Frequent Questions on Recycling.

Popular Links

  • Recycle or Trash - What Goes Where?
  • Free Mulch
  • Adjusting to New Recycling Realities; 5 Ways You Can Help Stop 'Wishful Recycling'
  • Plastic

Residential Recycling Requirements

Fairfax County has rules regarding how waste and recycling is managed. One important component of the county’s solid waste ordinance is the requirement for residents to separate recyclables from trash for placement at the curb for collection. Both waste and recyclables are required to be collected weekly if you receive collection service at your residence.

Visit Minimum Residential Recycling Requirements

Where Does Recycling Go?

Did you ever wonder where your recycling materials go? Follow the journey with this flowchart. Click the picture to download for easy viewing.

Recycling flow chart

The Recycling Process Step-by-Step:

Join Fairfax County staff on their visit to a local Materials Recovery Facility.

  • 1. The Tipping Floor
  • 2. Pre-sorting
  • 3. Paper Sorting
  • 4. Steel Sorting
  • 5. Optical Sorting
  • 6. Aluminum Sorting
  • 7. Glass Sorting
The Tipping Floor

Trucks unload recyclables onto a tipping floor, where materials are fed into a conveyor belt for sorting.

Pre-sorting

Workers manually remove large or contaminating items from the conveyor belt.

Paper Sorting

Screens separate cardboard and paper from smaller items and glass particles.

Steel Sorting

A magnet extracts ferrous metals like steel cans from the material stream.

Optical Sorting

Optical sorters identify and separate specific plastics and cartons using light detection.

Aluminum Sorting

An eddy current separator repels aluminum and other nonferrous metals from the stream.

Glass Sorting

Glass is removed early to prevent damage to equipment and contamination, with special recycling containers available for proper disposal.

I-66 Transfer Station and I-95 Landfill Complex

Find phone numbers, hours, addresses, and disposal fees for the I-66 Transfer Station and the I-95 Landfill Complex.

Visit Disposal Center Locations and Hours

Fats, Oils and Grease (FOG)

FOG

Waste cooking oil is accepted every day at the I-66 Transfer Station or the I-95 Landfill Complex. Take cooking oil directly to the Household Hazardous Waste facility for recycling!

Visit Fats Oils and Grease

Composting Organic Waste

Composting

Consider composting, nature’s own way of recycling. Composting is the controlled breakdown of organic material such as yard waste or food scraps. You can buy a compost bin or make one yourself.

Visit Composting Organic Waste

Household Hazardous Waste

The Fairfax County Household Hazardous Waste Program accepts hazardous materials from residents free of charge and disposes or recycles them according to all local, state and federal regulations.

Visit Household Hazardous Waste

Energy Recovery

The I-95 Energy Resource Recovery Facility (E/RRF) located at the county’s I-95 Solid Waste Management Complex in Lorton is owned and operated by Reworld Fairfax, Inc. (CFI). Municipal solid waste (MSW) serves as the fuel for the facility, which is designed and operated in a similar manner to a typical power plant. Steam is produced from the combustion of MSW, and is used to spin turbine-generators that produce over 80MW of electricity.

Visit Energy Resource Recovery Facility

Fairfax County Waste Metrics

For the latest county trash and recycling metrics, visit Waste Metrics | Office of Environmental and Energy Coordination.

More Resources

For more resources on reducing, reusing and recycling, as well as litter prevention efforts, visit Clean Fairfax.

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