Recycling bins in Arlington County (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Arlington’s recycling rate is trending up — but there is still a ways to go to reach the county’s goal of diverting nearly all trash from incinerators and landfills by 2038.
In 2021, the recycling rate, which now includes the county’s new food scrap collection program, was 52.4%, according to Solid Waste Bureau Chief Erik Grabowsky. Last year’s rate is projected to be 54%.
The county’s recycling rate has risen incrementally in the last six years, from 44.5% in 2015. But residents and the government will have to double down on food scrap collection and recycling, while reducing overall waste, over the next 15 years if the county is supposed to reach its goal of diverting 90% of trash from incineration and landfills by 2038.
Grabowsky says greater participation in the county’s food scraps collection program and improved recycling habits would get the county halfway there.
“If we do a much better job of recycling and a much better job of food scrap collection, we get into the mid-to-high 70th percentile,” he said in a February meeting. “Beyond 75%, it’s a real challenge.”
To close that 15% gap, county staff, a Solid Waste Committee and local environmentalists have several ideas, including promoting reusable dishware in Arlington Public Schools and starting collections for hard-to-recycle items.
These and other ideas could be incorporated into a forthcoming Solid Waste Management Plan to replace the current one approved in 2004. This road map, which could be ready for public engagement this summer, will guide the county’s approach to waste management and could include interim milestones to make a 90% diversion rate seem manageable: a 60% diversion rate by 2028 and 75% rate by 2033.
Solid Waste Committee Chair Carrie Thompson says she likes to think of this plan as a “Zero Waste Plan,” the most important objective of which is getting all Arlingtonians on board with producing less trash.
“We’re all in this together,” Thompson tells ARLnow. “We have to be conscientious because the county can only do so much… If we all do better about what hits the bins, then what they do is more effective.”
For instance, food scraps and compostable paper comprised 26-32% of what went into the trash last year, while recyclable paper products and glass comprised about 14-16% of trash, according to data provided to ARLnow. Since 2019, residents have been asked to recycle glass separately to improve recycling quality and save the county money.
Conversely, trash and glass make up about 14% of the recycling stream and have no value, according to an updated pamphlet from Arlington County about what should and should not be recycled.
Overflowing trash can near the intersection of 12th Street S. and S. Eads Street (courtesy of @rdc20132/Twitter)
Arlington County has removed two apparently “abandoned” trash cans in Pentagon City.
Earlier this week, a resident posted on social media scenes of overflowing trash cans near the intersection of 12th Street S. and S. Eads Street, across the street from the Pentagon City Whole Foods.
Despite the post, the trash cans were not immediately emptied. The Arlington Dept. of Environmental Services (DES) said on social media that the offending trash cans were, in fact, not the county’s responsibility.
The pile of refuse — including many bags of dog waste — continued to grow.
DES has since decided to remove the trash cans, after concluding they were “abandoned” by their original owner.
“The Solid Waste Bureau determined that the two overflowing receptacles were abandoned and removed them this week for safety,” DES spokesperson Peter Golkin wrote in an email.
Trash should be disposed of in other nearby receptacles, he said. The closest trash can handled by the county is three blocks away at 12th Street S. and S. Hayes Street.
It remains unclear to whom the abandoned trash cans belonged. Golkin noted that “ownership has not been determined.”
ARLnow reached out to developer JBG Smith due to its ubiquitous presence in the neighborhood and the fact that the trash cans were in front of a banner bearing the company’s name. But a spokesperson there said, “it’s not theirs.”
Now, the bins and the pile of doggie waste bags, plastic water bottles and cardboard coffee cups stacked on top have gone to the great landfill in the sky.
Back in May, the neighborhood had similar trash troubles that Golkin attributed to “increased seasonal tourism and more weekend events.”
He said at the time that the Solid Waste Bureau was shifting schedules and doing weekend checks to ensure full trash cans were being emptied in a timely manner. This is still happening, Golkin noted this week.
“The Solid Waste Bureau is still continuing with weekend stops in the busy Pentagon Row area,” he wrote.
Leaf cleanup in Arlington (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Cool fall mornings mean leaf collection season is near.
And Arlington’s Department of Environmental Services is reminding homeowners collecting their leaves and cleaning out their gardens to use only paper yard waste bags.
“Plastic ones can’t be composted and won’t be collected. If you have a landscaper, make sure they know,” spokesman Peter Golkin said. “The issue with yard waste in plastic bags is the most glaring problem for organics.”
Leaves bagged in paper can be composted along with other yard waste and food scraps, and turned into compost residents can use in their gardens.
Since September 2021, Arlington County has collected residents’ food scraps mixed in with their yard waste. Participation hovers around 40-45% of homes, and the county says participating residents diverted 27% of their food waste from the incinerator in April 2022, up from 21% in January 2022 and 15% in October 2021.
“As with any new program, there is a learning curve. Arlington is one of the first localities to collect food scraps at the curb,” Golkin said. “Food scraps collection is just over a year old but we hear from new users and even won a 2022 Achievement Award from the Virginia Association of Counties.”
He reported that there is demand for learning more about the organics collection process.
“We had a big turnout for the Rock-n-Recycle Solid Waste Bureau open house this month and got to share loads of information and compostable bags for food scraps, particularly with young families,” he said. “Same for the County Fair. More educational opportunities to come.”
The department will soon distribute a cart hanger with a rundown of what can, and can’t, be put in the cart.
Golkin has two rules of thumb: “If it grows, it goes” and “When in doubt, leave it out.”
— Arlington Department of Environmental Services (@ArlingtonDES) September 22, 2022
So go ahead and put hairs from the hairbrush or fingernail clippings in the food scrap collection bin. Other bathroom trash, like used tissues, however, cannot be composted.
While a variety of products are advertised as “compostable,” residents should take care when disposing them, Golkin says.
“Products that are 100% bamboo are compostable but if you can’t tell, best to put an item in the trash,” he said. “Read disposal instructions carefully. If there are no disposal instructions, that’s probably a sign to use the garbage can.”
For example, the handles of bamboo toothbrushes are compostable but the nylon bristles are not. Meanwhile, plastic-looking compostable cups or flatware must be Biodegradable Products Institute or Compost Manufacturing Alliance certified compostable.
“Apple cores, banana peels, chicken bones and even greasy pizza boxes are easier,” Golkin said. “Toss them in the green cart.”
The free food scrap bin Arlington County provided to residents starting September 2021 (file photo)
Since the initiative launched, he said, more than 100 cubic yards of finished compost has returned to Arlington for residents to pick up — similar to the county’s free mulch program. More will be available “in the next few weeks,” with details forthcoming on DES’s social media account.
The county’s curbside pickup is not an option for apartment dwellers, but officials encourage residents to discuss food scrap collection with their apartment or condo management.
For now, they can drop off their food scraps at the Trades Center in Shirlington, at local farmers markets and at the MOM’s Organic Market near Courthouse.
Based on current waste stream data, staff and a public advisory committee are working on a new, state-mandated Solid Waste Management Plan for the county, to be released in 2024, he said.
If Arlington County collects your yard waste, you can now add food scraps to your green organics cart starting this week.
This collection service, which started on Monday, is now part of the county’s regular weekly trash, recycling and yard waste collection routes. Food scraps and yard waste will be delivered together to a professional composting facility in Prince William County.
“Food scrap collection represents years of planning and organization by County staff and members of the community, guided by the Solid Waste Bureau,” according to the Department of Environmental Services. “The new program makes Arlington one of the first localities in the nation to gather residential food waste as a part of standard curbside services.”
Eligible residents received a small, beige countertop food caddy — which, up until now, some have used as coolers — and a set of compostable bags last month. The county distributed the supplies so folks can store scraps inside and bring filled bags to their green carts.
DES recommends people keep the pail, lined with a compostable bag — available at Target, on Amazon and at grocery stores — on a kitchen counter. Just before one’s weekly trash pickup time, the food scraps should be bagged, put in the green cart and rolled out for collection.
Those who worry about odors or insects can keep the pail or scrap bag in the freezer or refrigerator. Other alternatives include storing scraps in Tupperware or bins with charcoal filters.
Residents can toss a wide range of materials that qualify as “food scraps” into their green carts: from apple and banana peels to meats, bones, coffee grounds and even greasy pizza boxes and used paper napkins. A user’s guide was distributed along with the countertop caddy, and is also posted on the county website.
What goes into the green yard waste carts (via Arlington County)
“The initiative marks another milestone in Arlington’s commitment to sustainability, diverting organic waste from incineration with regular trash,” the county said. “The compost generated will find its way into Arlington parks and community gardens and eventually individual yards, just as residents can pick up and order mulch for delivery from the County.”
Arlington is providing the service as part of its goal to divert 90% of waste from landfills and incinerators by 2038.
The county encourages residents who don’t receive weekly curbside collection to drop off their scraps at the Arlington County Trades Center in Shirlington (2700 S. Taylor Street), the Columbia Pike Farmers Market on Sundays, or MOM’s Organic Market (1901 N. Veitch Street). Residents who don’t get the county’s curbside collection service — which serves mostly single-family homes — can also email [email protected] for tips.
The new food scraps collection has even attracted entrepreneurs who are anticipating a stinky problem that they can solve.
Clarendon-based Bright Bins, a recently-launched waste bin cleaning business, is promoting its service as a way to “keep your bins clean and sanitized — and keep the rodents and pests away.”
“As opposed to using mild soap and a hose, our high-pressure 180-degree steam process sterilizes and deodorizes your organic bin, safeguarding it from attracting unpleasant visitors and ensuring you don’t dread the next time you open it,” said co-owner Ryan Miller.
(Updated at 3:50 p.m.) Arlington County will start collecting residents’ food scraps on Labor Day.
Residents receiving county curbside collection services — mostly those in single-family homes and townhouses — will be able to toss unused food into their green yard waste bins and bring them to the curb on collection day, starting Monday, Sept. 6. Those scraps will be composted in Prince William County and returned to Arlington as soil.
“This is going to be for everybody who is a part of the household solid waste collection program,” said Erik Grabowsky, the chief of the Solid Waste Bureau of the Department of Environmental Services, during a community forum last week.
Arlington will be the first jurisdiction in Virginia to provide the service to all residential customers, he said.
The initiative is part of the county’s goal to divert 90% of resources from landfills and incinerators by 2038. It is also the last significant program to be implemented from the county’s 2004 solid waste management plan, Grabowsky said.
“There are many good reasons for adding a food scraps collection program,” he said, such as diverting useable waste from landfills and incinerators. Creating and using compost “will build healthier soils and also allow us to pay attention to the amount of food waste we are generating — which may change purchasing habits and may save us money.”
County household waste collection customers should have received a postcard previewing the service change and will soon receive an informational cart hanger, he said. The second of two virtual community forums will be held tomorrow and the county will be delivering “starter kits” with a two-gallon food caddy, 40 compostable bags and educational materials, throughout the month of August.
Acceptable food waste and food scraps include:
Vegetables and fruits
Meats, including bones, and old meat grease (sopped up with a paper towel)
Dairy products and eggshells
Breads
Coffee grounds, paper coffee liners and tea leaves (but not tea bags)
Residents should still put disposable containers and other products marketed as “compostable” in the trash.
“A lot of the materials have plastic liners,” said Adam Riedel, a county environmental management specialist. “We want to ensure the highest quality product, which means keeping out those contaminants.”
That could change if the federal government issues stricter regulations for creating and marketing disposable products as “compostable,” he said.
Arlington County will deliver these food scrap pails to residents (Courtesy Arlington County)
DES recommends keeping the pail, lined with a compostable bag, on a kitchen counter. Just before one’s weekly trash pickup time the food scraps should be bagged, put in the green cart and rolled out for collection.
Riedel said he keeps his pail on the counter and he notices no odor, but for those who are worried, he suggested keeping the pail or scrap bag in the freezer or refrigerator.
Grabowsky said he does not envision proper disposal requiring much enforcement.
“People generally comply with rules and regulations,” he said. “I don’t think we’re going to have a contamination problem. If we do, we’re going to have to start having more aggressive action.”
The scraps will be converted into nutrient-dense soil at Freestate Farms in nearby Prince William County, per a new agreement approved by the County Board in February. The facility is run via a public-private partnership between Prince William County and the private corporation.
Arlington County will be sending its yard waste and food scraps to Prince William County.
At Saturday’s County Board meeting, the board approved a new agreement to send organic compost to a new state-of-the-art composting facility in Prince William County.
Until November last year, the county was sending compost to a Loudoun County facility but that facility has since ceased operations.
Back in 2016, Arlington County began year-round residential curbside collection of organic material like grass clippings, leaves, and yard trimmings.
Arlington County provides year-round residential curbside collection of organic material, such as grass clippings, leaves, and yard trimmings. Through the winter — November to March — the material is composted at the Earth Products Recycling Yard (EPRY) at the Arlington County Trades Center in Shirlington.
However, that changes in the spring due to EPRY’s inability to compost grass clippings as well as space limitations related to residents mowing their lawn more often in the spring and summer.
As a result, from April to October the county sends its organic material to a third-party outside of the county for processing.
And starting this year, that material will be going to Freestate Farms in nearby Prince William County. The facility is run via a public-private partnership between Prince William County and the private corporation.
Beyond yard waste, the Prince William County facility also has the ability to compost “mixed organics,” i.e. food waste. County Manager Mark Schwarz’s proposed Fiscal Year 2022 budget includes about $300,000 to add food scraps to the list of items that can be placed in the green organics bin.
If approved, the food scrap collection would begin in September, according to Schwartz’s budget.
In the meantime, the county’s current organics collection is set to start being trucked to Prince William County on April 1. The agreement does come with a price, however.
The Prince William facility is charging more than the Loudoun County facility, from $32 a ton for yard waste to the new rate of $36 a ton. For mixed organics, the rate is even higher, at $38 a ton. The staff report says these rate increases should be “almost or entirely offset” by other savings in the waste collection budget and will not result in Arlington households having to absorb the rate increase.
In fact, according to the proposed budget, there actually would be a slight rate decrease in the solid waste rate for households. Currently, households are paying an annual rate of $319.03. If the budget passes as is, even with the addition of mixed organics collection, residents will pay $318.61.
Step One: Residents are encouraged to bring their compost to the Trade Center where DES staff chuck it in the composting machine
Step Two: Solid Bureau Waste Chief Erik Grabowsky (right) and workers Travis Haddock (middle) and Lee Carrig (left) manage the loading of food waste into the compost machine
Step Three: The earthflow composting system churns food waste with an auger and speeds up decomposition with the heat from insulated walls and a glass roof
Step Four: the Solid Waste Bureau sifts the final mix of compost with a hulking red trammel screen machine
AFAC is experimenting using the compost in its organic garden on S. Walter Reed Drive which grows several types of vegetables
Vegetables are donated from gardens straight to AFAC
AFAC staff and volunteers bag vegetables and fruit donations from farms and gardens and grocery stores at the food bank
Step Eight: Earnest Williams is one of the AFAC staff who moves quickly to unload new food donations and sort them at the food bank
AFAC presents food for residents in shelves and refrigerators are different distribution centers across the county
Step Ten: When plants finish their growing cycle, volunteers cycle in other vegetables to keep the garden productive
AFAC Communications Manger Jeremiah Huston (left) and Associate Director of Programs & Plot Against Hunger Manager Puwen Lee (right)
AFAC’s Walter Reed garden grows strawberries, but only for the volunteers — the fruits are too delicate to ship well and don’t stay ripe long enough for food bank clients
Arlington County is turning trash into treasure by growing thousands of pounds of fresh produce for a local food bank using compost from residents.
Last February, Arlington’s Solid Waste Bureau began a pilot program to create compost from residents’ food scraps. Now some of that compost is coming full circle and being used in some of the local gardens that supply fresh produce for Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC).
AFAC is a nonprofit that receives around a million and a half pounds of food donations annually. The goods comes from several sources: grocery stores, private food drives, farmers markets and farms, and gardens around the region, according to spokesman Jeremiah Huston. Part of that comes from its “Plot Against Hunger” program, which cultivates the fresh produce.
AFAC staffer Puwen Lee manages this program, which she helped grow back in 2007 after noticing the food bank distributed frozen vegetables even in the summer months.
“And I thought, ‘This is really strange because I got so many vegetables in my garden,'” she said. After mentioning it to the nonprofit’s leadership, Lee said the director dropped off 600 packs of seeds on her desk and left it up to her.
Since then, Lee, who grew up gardening in Michigan, estimates the program has received over 600,000 pounds of fresh produce and has grown to include gardens from the Arlington Central Library, schools, and senior centers — and now it’s experimenting with using waste from residents themselves.
Trading trash for treasure
The Solid Waste Bureau collects food waste in two green barrels behind a rosebush by its headquarters in the Trades Center in Shirlington. The waste is then dumped into a 10-foot-high, 31-foot-long earth flow composting stem that cooks the materials under a glass roof and generates 33 cubic yards of compost in about two weeks.
When Solid Waste Bureau Chief Erik Grabowsky opens the doors to the machine, the heady smell of wine wafts out, revealing a giant auger slowly whirring through the blackened bed, turning the composting food.
Grabowsky said the final mix is cut with wood chips — something not always ideal for most vegetable gardens. But Grabowksy says it’s an “evolving” mixture that the department will tweak over time and which he plans to test in the department’s own garden next to the machine.
After the wood chips, the mix is shifted through a hulking “trammel screen” and distributed to AFAC and the Department of Parks and Recreation.
On a recent weekday, workers Travis Haddock and Lee Carrig were busy in Bobcats shuffling dirt off the paved plaza Grabowksy says will host the department’s first open house next Saturday, June 8 to show how the recycling system works. Normally, they manage repairs to the auger and the flow of compost in and out of the machine.
(When asked what their favorite part of the job was, they joked it was when the auger “stops in the middle and you got to climb in there.”)
The department’s free June event, called “Rock-and-Recycle,” will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the department’s lot in the Trades Center and will feature music and food trucks. Attendees will also be able to check out the compost for themselves, as well as the nearby Rock Crusher and Tub Grinder.
From farm to food bank
AFAC is currently experimenting with using the compost for one of its gardens. The nonprofit also makes its own mix using plant scraps and weeds pulled up from the beds.
Near AFAC’s Shirlington headquarters, volunteers run a garden that donates all its yield to the food bank. Boy Scouts originally built the raised beds that now make up 550 square feet of gardening space, and grow lettuce, beets, spinach, green beans, kale, tomatoes, and radishes, on a plot near a water pump station along S. Walter Reed Drive.
Plot Against Hunger manager Lee said the space was originally planned as a “nomadic garden” in 2013, but thanks to the neighboring Fort Barnard Community and the Department of Water and Sewer, it became a permanent fixture on Walter Reed Drive.
Certified Master Gardener Catherine Connor has managed the organic garden for the last three years. She says she’s helped set up the rain barrels and irrigation system that waters the beds in addition to supervising the planting. Now the beds are thick with greens and bumblebees hum between the flowers of the spinach plants that have gone to seed.
“Last year, we had just an incredible growing season,” Lee said. “From the farmers markets alone we picked up something like 90,000 pounds [of food.]”
Arlington County is asking residents to trash glass, following a vote by the County Board last night.
Board members passed an amendment to the county code allowing the County Manager to delete materials from the list of what Arlington recycles. The move was made to allow County Manager Mark Schwartz to remove glass from the list after officials said it had become too expensive to recycle.
The county says in a press release that those who receive residential trash and recycling pickup service in Arlington should throw away glass in their black trash containers instead of the blue recycling bins. That will make things easier for the county’s recycling processor, which is currently sending glass to landfills.
The new county directive does not apply to those in offices, apartments and other commercial properties, whose waste collection is handled by private contractors.
Alternatively, people can dump their glass at one of two designated drop-off locations — at Quincy Park (N. Quincy Street and Washington Blvd) or the Arlington Trades Center (2700 S. Taylor Street) — which carts it to Fairfax County for an experiment in paving roads with smashed up glass.
“The County anticipates establishing additional drop-off locations to make it more convenient for residents, though no specific sites are yet under consideration,” said the county’s press release. “Glass that customers deposit in their black trash carts will be processed at the Covanta Waste-to-Energy facility in Alexandria where it will be incinerated and turned into electricity.”
Arlington's new approach to glass is based on environmental and economic sustainability. Keeping glass out of the blue bins will make the paper, metal and plastic more valuable to recyclers. Glass dropped off at Quincy and Trades is crushed in @fairfaxcounty and used locally. pic.twitter.com/eiUQl4YT97
— Arlington Department of Environmental Services (@ArlingtonDES) April 26, 2019
The county’s “single-stream” recycling systems often shatter glass, which then mixes up different-colored shards and reduces its value, Arlington’s chief of solid waste Erik Grabowsky previously told ARLnow.
Recouping lost value is also harder than ever because of China’s decision to stop accepting some recycling materials, which led Arlington’s recycling costs to rise from $15.73 per ton to $28.62 per ton in the last six months, according to Grabowksy.
“We do have to come to grips with the fundamental reality that we are living in a fraudulent experience,” said Board Chair Christian Dorsey last night. “Because every time we put glass in our blue containers it’s not doing what we expect that it does. It’s being put in a landfill which is contrary to what we want, and not only that, but it’s costing us more money to do it.”
Grabowsky said that removing glass will lower the county’s overall recycling rate this year by 1 percent.
The good news, he says, is that the current recycling rate is 50.1 percent — a number already exceeding the county’s goal to recycle 47 percent of waste by 2024.
Now Grabowksy and the county want people to think about buying less glass, and finding ways to re-purpose it before throwing it out.
“Ultimately, what we want to do is establish a new glass hierarchy for Arlington county,” he said. In the press release, the county said residents should consider prioritizing the purchase of items in containers made of “recyclable metal or even plastic.”
Mark Schwartz said he hoped to identify three additional location for glass drop-off centers by August, but acknowledged it may take more time adding recycling facilities to neighborhoods “may not be met warmly.”
Grabowsky said that starting next month, that the county will begin notifying people of the change in recycling glass with with digital and mailed letters.
“I didn’t anticipate that this would ever be an issue a few years ago,” Schwartz said. “But the economy and the international relationships we’ve had as the United States have changed in the last two years and some months, for some reason.”
Get ready to start raking in the leaves: the county’s leaf collection starts next Monday (Nov. 12) for some neighborhoods and continues through mid-December.
The vacuum truck will operate Mondays through Saturdays, except for Thanksgiving, and will complete two sweeps on a set neighborhood schedule. The first pass runs from Nov. 12 to Dec. 4. Immediately afterward the second collection pass begins and run until Dec. 20.
Look for yellow signs posted three to seven days ahead of the first pass and then orange signs for the second one. Leaves should be at the curb at the start of the collection window and stay there until they are collected.
Residents can prepare for leaf collection by raking leaves to the curb — and away from storm drains and water meter covers — the weekend before the scheduled collection. The brochure reminds residents to remove stones, branches, litter and other debris from the pile and to reduce fire hazards by not parking cars on leaf piles.
Residents can also recycle leaves by placing them in green organics carts or paper yard bags at the curb by 6 a.m. for pickup on regular trash collection days. The weight cut off is 50 pounds for bags and 200 pounds for carts. The recycled leaves become nutrient-rich mulch that residents can pick up for free either at the Solid Waste Bureau near SHirlington or near Marymount University at 4712 26th Street N.
The county will not collect leaves in plastic bags.
“Yard trimmings collected in Arlington County are composted and used to make top soil for use in county projects. Plastic bags and other inorganic materials contaminate the end product,” a blurb on a county brochure reads.
The county’s free bag distribution started last week (Oct. 29) and runs until Jan. 18 while supplies last at the following locations:
Aurora Hills Community Center, 735 18th Street S., 703-228-5715
It’s the season for spring cleaning, and Arlington’s street sweeping service is set to resume today (Monday).
The sweeping service runs from April through October in an effort to “reduce stormwater pollution in our local streams, the Potomac River, and the Chesapeake Bay,” according to an Arlington County Solid Waste Bureau press release.
The street sweeping schedule is zoned by neighborhood, and begins April 9. The sweeping will run each day in the designated civic associations from about 7:30 a.m.-3 p.m.
For “more effective sweeping” the County is asking residents to move their cars out of the road — “to a driveway, garage or non-sweeping street” — during cleaning, but parking fines will not be issued.
Monday, April 9
Zone 1 – Alcova Heights, Ashton Heights, Arlington Heights, Foxcroft Heights, Arlington View, Penrose
Tuesday, April 10
Zone 2 – Claremont, Douglas Park, Columbia Forest, Fairlington
Wednesday, April 11
Zone 3 – East Falls Church, Yorktown, Williamsburg
Thursday, April 12
Zone 4 – Arlingwood, Old Glebe, Chain Bridge, Rock Spring, Country Club Hills/Gulf Branch, Stafford-Albemarle-Glebe
Friday, April 13
Zone 5 – Bellevue Forest, North Highlands, Donaldson Run, Rivercrest, Dover Crystal, Riverwood, Maywood, Woodmont
Monday, April 16 Zone 6 – Arlington Ridge/Forest Hills, Aurora Highlands, Columbia Heights, Long Branch Creek, Nauck
Tuesday, April 17
Zone 7 – Clarendon, Courthouse, Colonial Village, Lyon Park, Lyon Village, North Rosslyn, Radnor/Fort Myer Heights
Wednesday, April 18
Zone 8 – Arlington Forest, Barcroft, Buckingham, Columbia Heights West/ Arlington Mill, Forest Glen, Glencarlyn
Thursday, April 19
Zone 9 – Ballston, Virginia Square, Cherrydale, Cherry Valley Nature Area, Glebewood, Old Dominion, Waycroft-Woodlawn, Waverly Hills
Friday, April 20 Zone 10 – Highland Park, Overlee Knolls, John M. Langston, Leeway Overlee, Madison Manor, Tara-Leeway Heights, Westover Village
Monday, April 23 Zone 11 – Bluemont, Boulevard Manor, Dominion Hills
For those already looking forward to the end of the holidays, Arlington County’s Christmas tree collection program begins in early January.
The program goes through the first two weeks in January, from January 2-12.
“Residents are reminded to place the tree on the curb no later than 6 a.m. on your regular trash collection day and to remove all decorations, nails, stands and plastic bags,” a blurb on the program reads. “The trees are later ground into wood mulch for garden use.”
Anyone who does not have a curbside recycling service can bring their Christmas trees to the Solid Waste Bureau during the collection season.
The vacuum truck will operate Mondays through Saturdays, except for Thanksgiving, and will complete two sweeps on a set neighborhood schedule. The first pass runs from Nov. 12 to Dec. 4. Immediately afterward the second collection pass begins and run until Dec. 20.
