Fairfax County is seeing mixed results in its efforts to eliminate solid waste.
“We’ve made progress,” Braddock District Supervisor James Walkinshaw, chair of supervisors’ environment committee, said after the Board of Supervisors received an update on the county’s Zero Waste program on Tuesday (May 20).
However, Walkinshaw was quick to add that “there’s still a long way to go,” with the progress report showing mixed results.
At the recommendation of a Joint Environmental Task Force convened with Fairfax County Public Schools leaders, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors pledged in 2021 to make all county government and schools operations carbon-neutral by 2040.
Aiming to achieve “zero waste” by 2030 under an updated operational energy strategy, the county set goals of cutting its waste levels by 25% from 2018 levels and diverting 90% of solid waste from landfills and incineration.
On the plus side, the county government has reduced its total solid waste by 38% from the 2018 baseline figure, as of 2023, staff reported to the environmental committee.
That figure, however, comes with two caveats: Figures post-2020 reflect a county government workforce that, in many cases, was working from home during the pandemic, and a slight uptick (from 39%) was recorded in 2023 as more employees returned to the office in 2022.
However, the county has only diverted 29% of its solid waste to recycling, keeping it well short of the 90% target.
“We acknowledge the challenges ahead,” said Samantha Lee, who oversees the Zero Waste program under the county’s Department of Procurement and Material Management.
She termed the 90% goal an “aspirational” one, noting that no jurisdiction in the country is close to meeting that figure. However, the county has “already made meaningful progress,” she said.
In 2023, a consultant studied the trash and recycling repositories across a number of county government facilities to determine where there were challenges.
According to county staff, the review found that about 20% of what had been tossed in the trash at the Fairfax County Government Center was material that could have been recycled. At the same time, about 45% of materials in the government center’s recycling compactor shouldn’t have been there.
Lee attributed the second figure to “wishcycling” — people depositing materials they think are recyclable but aren’t actually appropriate for the single-use-recycling stream used in general county operations.
Mason District Supervisor Andres Jimenez said that points to a need for improved outreach efforts.
“We need to rethink the education piece,” he said, including clearer explanations of what can and can’t be recycled.
Without clear information, “you get confused, you get frustrated,” Jimenez said. “The next step after frustrated is, you give up.”
As part of the effort, all county agencies were requested to provide a 2025 action plan by March detailing their efforts and setting achievable goals for the coming year.
Pressed by supervisors, staff said “a handful of agencies” — which were left unnamed — had not yet submitted reports.
That irked Walkinshaw.
“We need everybody’s ideas,” he said.
Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay asked for more information on efforts being made by FCPS. Though a partner in the Zero Waste initiative, school system data weren’t incorporated into the figures reported at this week’s committee meeting.
McKay said he’s sure the school system is doing its part to encourage and improve recycling, but schools and administrative offices provide fertile ground for efforts to do more.
“They’re an important partner that’s going to help move the needle,” McKay said.
Funding for many of the county government’s recycling-related outreach efforts comes from its tax on single-use plastic bags.
In addition to making its own operations more efficient and less wasteful, the county is considering options for reducing trash in the general community. Potential ideas include unified sanitation districts to give the county direct oversight of trash collections by private contractors, a “pay-as-you-throw” system, mandatory composting, and zero waste drop-off centers.
The county’s Department of Public Works and Environmental Services launched a textile recycling pilot program earlier this year that allows residents to drop off clothes, shoes and other household fabrics in blue collection bins at the I-66 Transfer Station (4618 West Ox Road). The company Helpsy, which provided the bins, then helps sort the items and sends ones that can be reused to thrift stores.
Since January, the six-month pilot has diverted over 10,000 pounds of clothing from landfills, the county reported on May 15.
Fairfax County staff joined regional partners for a tour of the Helpsy textile recycling facility, where unwanted clothing is baled for reuse or recycling
Since January, Fairfax residents have helped divert over 10,000 pounds of clothing from landfills 🧥👖 pic.twitter.com/ajuLnqEsf3
— Fairfax County Government 🇺🇸 (@fairfaxcounty) May 15, 2025
