There’s a slight increase in recycling in Prince William County over the past year.
From a press release:
Prince William County achieved a recycling rate of 36.8% in 2016. The Prince William County Public Works, Solid Waste Division Recycling Office received confirmation from Virginia Department of Environment Quality (DEQ) of the County’s Recycling Rate in July. This was an increase from the 2015 rate of 33.7%.
The recycling rate is a measure of the materials diverted for reuse, recycling, or composting from the waste stream compared to materials that go into to the trash. Regular trash is buried in the County’s sanitary landfill located on Dumfries Road or combusted at the Fairfax County I-95 Energy/Resource Recovery Facility in Lorton. Items diverted for recycling and composting are sorted, processed, and converted into materials to produce new products.
Although the recycling rate appears to be moving in the right direction, Scott MacDonald, the County’s recycling manager, cautions against becoming too complacent. There is still work to do because currently, 62% of the County’s waste goes into the landfill. Likewise, Prince William County’s recycling rate is below both the Northern Virginia average of 47.4% and the statewide average of 44.2% for the calendar year 2016 (the most recent year for which statewide results are available).
How is the recycling rate tabulated? Well, that’s complicated:
The state is comprised of approximately 41 solid waste planning units (SWPU) and these SWPU are required to achieve and maintain a minimum 25% annual recycling rate, unless the population density of the SWPU is less than 100 persons per square mile, or the civilian unemployment rate is 50% or more above the state unemployment average. SWPUs which have a population density less than 100 persons per square mile or a civilian unemployment rate 50% or more planning units (SWPU) and these SWPU are required to achieve and maintain a minimum 25% annual recycling rate, unless the population density of the SWPU is less than 100 persons per square mile, or the civilian unemployment rate is 50% or more above the state unemployment average. SWPUs which has a population density less than 100 persons per square mile or a civilian unemployment rate 50% or mandatory recycling rates took effect in the early 1990’s. Prince William County also exceeds the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 2010 national goal of 35%.
According to a 2013-2014 study of waste going into the landfill, 70% of the waste should have been recycled or composted. The largest single component were recyclable paper (e.g. cardboard boxes, cereal/tissue cartons, newspapers, magazines, juice boxes and milk cartons, etc.) for which recycling programs are widely available in the county and yard waste.
The Solid Waste Division is currently working on updates to the Refuse Code with community and business stakeholder representatives. One of the items that the committee is considering is yard waste composting, which will also help divert material from the landfill and increase the recycling rate. Prince William County is the only major county in Northern Virginia that does not require source-separation of yard waste for composting.
