Environmental Services
Arlington County's Recycling Programs
 | Spring Yard Waste Collection Begins March 22 |
 | SAVR - Saving Arlington's Valuable Resources - Spring Awards Does your commercial property have an exceptional recycling program? Apply for a SAVR Award! |
 | Free Paper Shredding Now Available! Available on the first Saturday of each month at the Solid Waste Bureau. Limit 2 standard grocery paper bags per customer. Find out more. |
 | Vacuum Leaf Collection Update The County is providing limited vacuum leaf collection services. Find out more. |
 | Make a difference in your community and Adopt-A-Street! Individuals or groups can volunteer to Adopt-A-Street and help support storm water management and litter control by keeping the street, curb, and storm drain free of trash and debris. Find out more! |
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Recycling at Businesses and Non-Residential Properties All commercial properties in Arlington are required to recycle the top two materials generated annually in the greatest quantity. View the Businesses and Non-Residential Properties Recycling p age to find out more. There are also Business Recycling Plan Forms and instructions for businesses available online. Formularios de Plan de Reciclaje de Negocios/Comercial del Condado de Arlington e Instrucciones. Recycling at Multi-Family Properties Property managers or owners of multi-family properties are required to setup a recycling program. View the Recycling at Multi-Family Properties web page to find out more. Multi-family Recycling Plan Forms and instructions are available online. Formularios de Plan de Reciclaje de Viviendas Multifamiliares del Condado de Arlington e Instrucciones Property managers or owners are required to setup and maintain a recycling program for residents to recycle:
Recycling programs may also include plastic bottles and jugs, magazines, mixed paper, and old corrugated cardboard. Commercial Waste and Recycling Haulers Reporting Requirements Haulers operating in Arlington County are required to submit an annual report documenting the tonnage of materials collected during the preceding calendar year. Numbers are collected for both refuse and recycling and are utilized to determine the County’s recycling rate for the year. Annual commercial hauler reporting requirements and online forms are available. Recycling used materials for re-processing is a valuable community service that helps protect our environment. Recycling used materials into new ones reduces the consumption of natural resources; so do source reduction – preventing waste at the source – and reuse. Providing recycled materials to industry instead of virgin materials helps reduce the amount of energy used in production of new materials. Interested in what happens to the recyclable materials that are collected in Arlington? Click here to find out what happens to recyclables in Arlington County. The economic benefits of recycling are often overlooked, even though the industry generates $236 billion in annual revenues and employs approximately 1.1 million people, according to a study by the National Recycling Coalition. Arlington County staff estimates that recycling one ton of materials at the curb (on average) saves the County $17 when compared to the cost of disposing of this material at the Waste to Energy Facility, where Arlington's trash goes (519 KB, PDF format) or read a fact sheet about air quality compliance at the Waste to Energy Plant (296 KB, PDF format). Recycling is a great way for individuals to contribute to the Earth’s preservation. Thanks to the efforts of Arlington County citizens, the County reported a recycling rate of 31.3% for CY 2003. Click here for more information about Arlington’s recycling rate. Recycling preserves natural resources by reducing the need for virgin materials. So do source reduction and reuse. In fact, source reduction and reuse are preferable to recycling because the item does not need to be reprocessed before it can be used again. Find out more about how to Reduce, Reuse, then Recycle. |
