HENRICO COUNTY, Va. -- Henrico County officials announced significant improvements to curbside recycling efforts, declaring that as "other localities are leaning back, Henrico is leaning in." The announcement came just months after Chesterfield County moved to end its curbside recycling program.
For Henrico County resident Deborah Gibson, 'green' is a way of life.
“Stay green. Green is my favorite color," Gibson said. "I like all green."
In an effort to keep her waste out of landfills, Gibson stopped by one of Henrico's 12 recycling centers Tuesday to drop off some old newspapers and paper bags. She said she and her neighbors also utilize the county's free curbside recycling service, which is offered in partnership with the Central Virginia Waste Management Authority.
There's just one problem-- she said the bins are too small.
“The only thing about it is that little green one wasn't very big and big enough, so it was an overload. You'd see it all over the place," Gibson said. "I think getting a bigger recycling thing, you'll see more people doing it."
And that's exactly the solution Henrico County is rolling out.
In May, county officials will deliver 90,000 95-gallon carts for single-family residences in CVWMA's curbside recycling program. The new carts will hold four times the amount as the current bins.
"That will allow families to be able to not have multiple bins and to keep the materials dry, which will help with transportation," said Henrico County Chief of Staff Cari Tretina. "But more importantly, it's going to significantly limit the amount of trash that goes to our landfill which inevitably helps our environment."
Henrico government plans to cover the $5.7 million in total expenses for the so-called "super cans," which will be partly funded by a grant from the nonprofit "The Recycling Partnership."
Kim Hynes, Executive Director of CVWMA, said the bigger bins will make it easier for current participants to recycle and potentially motivate others to begin recycling.
"Now they'll have this tool to be able to recycle more and even get started recycling. We know there's some folks out there that aren't currently taking advantage of the program, so we hope to get those folks on board," Hynes said.
On the contrary, Chesterfield County announced in September it would end its curbside recycling program with CVWMA come July.
Tretina said Chesterfield's decision drove up costs in Henrico by a "couple hundred thousand dollars" in its contract.
“It is definitely a little discouraging to hear about Chesterfield County not using the CVWMA curbside recycling program, but it certainly doesn't discourage us because we have a responsibility and that responsibility includes environmental stewardship," Tretina said.
Chesterfield resident Mark Bartok said he still has questions about how and why his county leaders decided to privatize recycling.
“Upset is one word, but I think probably concerned is another," Bartok said. "I want the supervisors to really show us, how did they come to the decision? What are the other options? And why are they making the trade-off to basically say the county's out of the recycling business? You guys go figure it out.”
Bartok's family, as avid recyclers, doesn't subscribe to trash pickup. But now, they'll have to buy their own curbside services out of the options of private vendors that Chesterfield has identified to do business in the county.
After calling every company, Bartok said the annual costs would be between $108-$402, and only one vendor offers solely curbside recycling without having to purchase a trash bundle.
The county was previously offering residents curbside recycling through CVWMA for $41 per year.
“I would just like to understand how this is in the best interest of all the Chesterfield County residents now, because now we have grandchildren that we're kind of fixing the future for," Bartok said.
He added by making recycling more expensive and less convenient, more Chesterfield residents will opt not to recycle anymore. He's concerned that'll lead to the landfill filling up at a higher rate.
"Seems to me that's what's going to have to happen to take care of Chesterfields County's trash once the landfill is filled because so much more of it is being used by recyclables versus what's been happening in the last 10-15 years here. The costs will escalate," he said.
CVWMA board member Robert Dunn raised the same concerns to county leaders in September.
In an email, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, he said, "I expect the number of citizens doing recycling will drop significantly. Thus, the trash/waste level will increase. ShooSmith landfill [in Chester] has a limited life, currently."
Dunn added an increase in the trash means a shorter life for the landfill, "thus, the trash haulers will have to go outside the area to dispose of trash increasing the cost to citizens in the county."
Chesterfield officials previously announced the decision boiled down to diminishing demand, as some communities have already bought their own private recycling services, and rising costs.
They explained that continuing services through CVWMA on the county's preferred subscription-based model would cost households $200 per year. However, CVWMA said Chesterfield did have the option of offering its families curbside recycling for $54-$60 annually if all homes participated.
But Chesterfield thought that option was "undesirable" and didn't want participating households subsidizing non-participating households since not all families utilized the curbside service.
In emails obtained by CBS 6 through FOIA, Board of Supervisors representative Chris Winslow told constituents CVWMA's proposal was a "failed model."
Winslow, who was Board of Supervisors Chair when Chesterfield made its decision, said CVWMA came to the region when a private market for recycling didn't exist but that it was successful in encouraging people to recycle.
"Because CVWMA has had a monopoly on recycling, it didn't and doesn't to this day know the customers it serves, and instead just picks up its bins and charges a premium to do so," Winslow said.
Moving forward, Chesterfield County leaders are considering some options to expand recycling services including:
- Restoring drop-off recycling sites to seven-days-a-week operations
- Making modifications to traffic lanes at drop-off sites for easier access
- Adding six new drop-off sites across the county (there are currently two)
Those considerations are a part of the county's ongoing budget negotiations.
But Bartok said all localities across the state should be pitching in collectively to protect the environment.
“One county is seen as being progressive and caring and looking out for the future, whereas another one says, 'We don't know. We'll figure it out. Maybe.' That just doesn't feel right to me," Bartok said.
He added, “Virginia is a Commonwealth, and to me, that term Commonwealth implies something bigger and broader and that we're all in this together. Chesterfield is taking the exact opposite approach— ‘No, it's on you.’ And that, to me, just doesn't doesn't seem like what the supervisors in the county government should be doing for us.”
