Big thanks to retired science teacher, County Solid Waste Alternatives Advisory Committee (SWAAC) member, and C3 volunteer Christine Putnam for updating this blog on recycling right in Cville. She did ALL of the legwork, phone calls, emails, etc to ensure accuracy. Please let us know if you learn of any changes or inaccuracies. This blog is updated yearly and cross-posted at betterworldbetty.org, updated from our popular “Resolve to Recycle Right in 2022! Here’s How”.

Let’s renew our commitment in 2023 to keeping materials out of the landfill. Here’s the 411, Charlottesville!

When it comes to recycling in Charlottesville, let’s face it: it’s messy AND confusing! Between China’s 2018 policy to block U.S. recyclables to mixed messages on what’s recyclable and what’s not, to the ever-changing landscape of available recycling providers, it’s hard to know what is the right thing to do. Not to mention the “Wish cycling” by well-intentioned recyclers adds contaminants and subsequent higher costs to the recycling stream.

Recycling correctly ensures that the items we put in our curbside bin are actually getting recycled, i.e. reused or turned into new products.

Before we begin, we encourage everyone to expand the mantra of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle to include Re-think, Repair, and even Reject some materials in the first place. Ask the questions: Do I need it? Will I use it? Do I already have it? Can I borrow it?

First, is recycling really worth the effort?

We say, yes! Recycling helps

Reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills and incinerators
Conserve natural resources like timber, water, and minerals
Increase economic security by tapping a domestic source of materials
Prevent pollution by reducing the need to collect new raw materials
Save energy
American manufacturing and conserves valuable resources
Create jobs in the recycling and manufacturing industries in the United States

(Source EPA)

What’s new in local recycling for 2023?

Plastic Bag Tax

Albemarle County and the City of Charlottesville have implemented a plastic bag tax. This is an effort to reduce plastic pollution. The money collected will be utilized to purchase and distribute reusable bags to vulnerable populations and fund environmental education and litter clean-up programs. You can learn more here. If you have gently used reusable bags, you can donate them at either of the local refill stores.

County’s Online Hub

Albemarle County has launched an Environmental Stewardship Hub. This is a great place to learn more about what the County is doing on climate action and what you can do at home, on your land, and in your community.

New County Convenience Center

There is a new recycling convenience center coming to Albemarle County. The center is under construction now. It is located near Keene off of Route 20 and is situated to serve the southern part of the county. When the convenience center opens, residents will be able to deposit recyclables and household food waste to be composted free of charge. For household trash, Tag-a-Bag will be available. For a nominal fee, 32 gallon trash bags with trash stickers may be deposited at a waste container located at the convenience center. Each bag (up to 32 gallons in size) must have a RSWA sticker. Tag-a-Bag stickers are $2.00/one or a sheet of 12 for $24.00/each and can be purchased using this online form.

What items ARE ACCEPTED in my curbside recycling bin if I live in Charlottesville City or Albemarle County?

Clear and transparent #1 PET rigid plastic containers
#2 HDPE plastic bottles like milk and detergent containers
Aluminum, tin, and steel metal cans
Paper products: cardboard, newspaper, magazines, junk mail, food boxes, and phone books
NOTE: #3-7 Plastics are accepted depending on the vendor (the exception: NO Styrofoam and NO rigid plastics without a recycle symbol and number). Due to the low value, challenges of recycling some of these plastics, and/or vendor transparency the details of what happens to them unfortunately goes beyond the scope of this blog and currently in some areas is discouraged
Glass is accepted in City curbside for now, but County Waste (GFL) is moving away from accepting glass so we recommend taking your source-separated glass to McIntire Recycling or Ivy MUC Recycling.

Note: do not put any items smaller than a tennis ball in your curbside recycling bin. Those items are likely to fall through the machinery at the recycling sorting facility, act as a contaminant, or jam the machinery.

What items SHOULD NOT go in my curbside recycling bin, but are recyclable?

1- Glass Containers

Recycling one glass bottle saves enough energy to light a 100-watt light bulb for four hours and recycling glass takes 30% of the energy required to produce glass from raw materials. However, glass in curbside bins is the bane of robust recycling programs. Ours is no exception.

The best way to recycle glass containers is to bring them to the McIntire Recycling Center or Ivy Material Utilization Center where it is source separated and sent to Strategic Materials Inc (SMI) in Durham, North Carolina. There it is melted down into what is called a “glass cullet”. This cullet is used to make new glass containers or fiberglass insulation.

County Waste services Charlottesville City and many Albemarle County customers and is now a subsidiary of GFL (*Green for Life) Environmental Inc, a waste management company with headquarters in Canada. GFL has updated its list of acceptable materials for Albemarle County customers and glass containers are no longer on that list.

We like this explanation from Fairfax County as to why they no longer accept glass in curbside bins: “Glass creates many problems for single-stream recycling. It is heavy, which adds cost to transporting recyclables to and from recycling centers. Glass [also breaks] during collection and transport to Material Recovery Facilities, or MRFs, where recyclables are sorted. The abrasive broken glass damages the machinery at the MRFs. Glass also contaminates bales of other more valuable items, such as cardboard and metals. [Therefore] most glass passes through the recycling process as residue, or waste. Some of the glass is applied as alternative daily landfill cover, an approved use by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, but most of it is simply landfilled with other non recyclable waste.” (Fairfax County.gov)

So is it worth the trip to McIntire Recycling Center or Ivy Materials Utilization Center to recycle your glass? Yes! The glass goes to North Carolina to be converted into glass cullet which is turned into new glass bottles or fiberglass insulation. Learn more here.

2- Flexible Plastic Film 2 and 4 (e.g. grocery bags, wrapping around toilet paper, dry cleaning bags, etc)

When I drive around my neighborhood on recycling day, it pains me to see people putting their recyclables in a big plastic bag and then into the recycling bin thinking it’s helping the sorting facility. It’s not!

Plastic films get wrapped around the recycling sorting machinery at the MRF and must be hand-picked out of the stream. To recycle properly, take your clean, dry plastic films to the McIntire or Ivy Recycling Center, or to grocery stores that accept plastic bags. They will be sent to the Trex facility in Winchester, VA.

Trex makes recycled plastic splinter-free lumber for decks and benches. Not all plastic films can be used in this process.

Pro tip: if you can stretch the plastic film with your finger then it is made from polyethylene (PE) #2 HDPE or #4 LDPE and it can be used. If you cannot stretch the plastic, it is probably made from polypropylene (PP) #5 which is not able to be recycled or used to make Trex materials at this time. You can learn about the recycling process and the types of films that are accepted on the Trex website.

3- Organics: Both Food Waste, Compostable Food Containers, and Yard Waste

Remember to remove those small plastic produce stickers. They do not break down in the composting process and therefore add to the problem of microplastics. We encourage all parents to ask your school principal about their composting and recycling programs.

How can I compost my food waste and compostable food/beverage packaging?

If you do not have space for backyard composting, you have three easy options.

1. McIntire Recycling Center or Ivy Materials Utilization Center allows you to bring your food scraps and compostable containers including PLA cups. Compostable bags are available for free if needed.

2. Black Bear Composting provides curbside compost pickup in the City of Charlottesville, Crozet, and some urban areas of Albemarle County. They also take the food waste from Ivy MUC to their Crimora, VA location to compost.

3. City residents can opt-in to a free food waste drop off program. Find out all the details here.

What about Yard Waste (leaves and vegetative clippings)?

When possible, leave your leaves in place to revitalize and improve the soil. Leaf litter helps the soil retain moisture, it suppresses weeds, and it is vital for butterflies, frogs, box turtles, insect-eating songbirds, and many other wild creatures. For your lawn, use a mower to mulch the leaves. The mulched leaves will quickly break down to naturally fertilize your lawn and improve the soil. Likewise with grass clippings. Brush and other woody yard waste can be piled up in a corner of your yard to provide shelter for birds. If necessary you can take it to the Ivy Material Utilization Center where it will be ground into mulch for resale.

Keeping organics out of the landfill is an important climate solution with the added benefit of improving the soil.

What about all the other things that could be reused, recycled, or require special disposal?

Here is a Quick Reference Guide created by the County SWAAC Committee: Recycling, Reuse of Materials, and Disposal of Hazardous Waste in Albemarle County (PDF)

There are a few changes to the recycling haulers in town. County Waste of Virginia LLC is now a subsidiary of GFL Environmental Inc. Time Disposal is now part of County Waste.

Recycling Bulky Items

When you do find yourself needing to get rid of bulky items that are not accepted in curbside bins or at the recycling centers there is now a new local option available for recycling those items. Check out Van der Linde Recycling in Troy, Virginia is about a 20-minute drive from Charlottesville on Interstate 64 East. Here are some of the items they accept, see their website for cost details.

Bulky #2 and #5 plastics such as outdoor furniture, toys, buckets and bins
Metal items such as lawn mowers, grills, and furniture
Mattresses- about 75% of the material in mattresses and box springs are recyclable, but sadly over 40 million mattresses end up in the landfill each year. For $25 van der Linde Recycling will unload your mattress and box spring and disassemble it separating the wood, metal and foam for recycling.
Carpeting and carpet pads- at this time only polypropylene, nylon 6 and nylon 6.6 carpets are able to be recycled. The folks at van der Linde can help you determine what type of carpeting material you have. If it is not able to be recycled, it will be disposed of properly.
Construction and demolition waste -You can bring this material to van de Linde and they will unload and sort out the following material for recycling: untreated, unpainted and unstained natural wood, metal of any kind, wires, #2 plastics, cardboard, concrete, bricks and much more.

Recycling and Trash Hauling in the City

If you live in the City of Charlottesville your curbside recycling is picked up by County Waste (a subsidiary of GFL) and transported to Zion Crossroads. Then is hauled to their sorting facility for recyclables only or “clean MRF” in Chester, VA. From there they try to find markets to buy their commodities.

Recycling and Trash Haulers in the County

If you are an Albemarle County resident, you can shop around for recycling haulers. Most haulers charge $6-8 for bi-monthly curbside recycling pickup with a trash pickup subscription. Here are some of your options depending on where you live.

Quality Disposal Shout out to Jesse Rogers for getting back to us promptly to answer all of our questions. Quality Disposal is locally owned and operated by Chelsea Mapanoo serving Earlysville, Ivy, and certain areas around Charlottesville. Quality Disposal source separates your recycling at the Ivy Materials Utilization Center (that does not take #3-7 plastics). They pick up recycling every week with your trash. You can arrange for it to be picked up from your garage or backyard so you don’t need to carry it to the curb. This is a big plus if you have a long driveway. For more information: 434-981-3123.
Evergreen Recycling is locally owned and operated by Mike Kruse who specializes in helping businesses, schools and apartment complexes manage their recycling. He separates recyclables and takes them to McIntire Recycling Center (that does not take #3-7 plastics) and the Paper Sort. For more information: 434-989-0681.
Neighborhood Disposal is locally owned and operated serving Greene County, the area north of Charlottesville and many of the urban areas in Albemarle County. Recycling is transported to Zion Crossroads and then to a clean MRF in Manassas, VA. (434) 985-2019.
Waste Works is locally owned and operated serving Greene County, the urban ring around Charlottesville, Crozet, Ivy, and 29N. Recycling is transported to Zion Crossroads and then to a clean MRF in Manassas, VA. In addition to trash plus recycling, you can subscribe for recycling pickup only. (434) 990-4258.
County Waste, a subsidiary of GFL serving most of Albemarle County (General Manager Brian Ulickas). Recycling is taken to a clean MRF in Chester, VA. (434)-296-6000.
Note: Time Disposal is now part of County Waste.

County Waste Infographic from their website

DIY Recycling: For those close to the City limits, who doesn’t love RSWA’s McIntire Recycling Center? The McIntire Recycling Center is open every day except Tuesdays and their phone number is (434)-977-2970. They have a knowledgeable and helpful staff and recycle nearly all products that can be recycled. You might even see a volunteer Recycling Ambassador who would be thrilled to answer your questions. Common items they do not take are styrofoam and #3-7 plastics. The Ivy Material Utilization Center is open every day except Sundays and offers the same recycling options as McIntire Recycling Center. (Click here for a more detailed list of acceptable recyclables).

**Recycling options at Ivy MUC on Dick Woods Road**

Where does McIntire take my recyclables?

Because the Rivanna Solid Waste Authority (RSWA) is a quasi-government agency, they must disclose where they take their recyclables. The private sector is not required to do that. So here is a quick list of items accepted at Ivy and McIntire Recycling and where they go.

Office paper goes to Sonoco Recycling in Madison Heights, VA. Sonoco sends most of that paper to a Georgia Pacific plant near Savannah, GA. This plant is the largest tissue paper manufacturing facility in North America. They make tissues, toilet paper, and paper towels.
Newspaper goes to Sonoco paper mill in Richmond, VA where it is recycled into more newsprint.
Cardboard goes to Sonoco paper mill in Richmond, VA where some of it ends up in packaging, like new Pringles containers (yes the round ones).
Plastic numbers 1 and 2 goes to Sonoco Recycling MRF in Raleigh, NC.
Flexible Plastic Film 2 and 4 go to TREX in Winchester, VA to be made into plastic lumber products.
Aluminum Cans go to Gerdau Metals in Roanoke, VA where it is sent off to be turned into new Aluminum Cans.
Mixed metal, mostly steel, or tin cans go to Gerdau as well.
Glass Containers go to Strategic Materials Inc in North Carolina to be made into new bottles or fiberglass insulation.
Compostable Food Waste is hauled to Panorama Farm in Earlysville and turned into compost which can be purchased at Panorama Farm and at the Ivy MUC.

We hope that helps clear up any recycling confusion! If you have other recycling questions, please email betterworldbetty@gmail.com.

–Teri and Christine

This blog was updated on 5/30/23.

Resolve to Recycle Right in 2023!