Expect changes to the traffic pattern at the Prince William County Landfill starting tomorrow, Saturday, May 13, 2023.

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We’re not feeding you a line of garbage — it will cost you more in Prince William County and Manassas to dispose of waste.

The county plans to hike the annual landfill fee it charges residents to $75, up $5. The rate has been flat since 1998, explained Tom Smith, the county’s public works director.

The county will also begin charging trash haulers a $40 fee (called a tipping fee) to dump trash at the county landfill at 14811 Dumfries Road starting January 2024. The hikes are proposed in the county’s 2024 budget, set for approval later this month.

Gainesville District Supervisor Bob Weir said he was concerned trash haulers would pass along the cost to their customers. Smith said that Haulers in nearby counties are already charging similar rates to those in Prince William County but are dropping their trash at landfills, like Stafford County, that charge tipping fees.

“We think the tipping fee is going to help keep the [the trash haulers] honest,” said Smith.

Construction costs are up 30%, driving the need for higher residential fees and the introduction of commercial fees. Crews need to expand the landfill by opening its fourth and final phase, extending its life by 25 years.

Crews must also install an into the trash cell for the third phase. The project will cost more than $200 million over the next 20 years, and Smith says the landfill will be out of money at the current rate by 2026.

Historically, the landfill has paid its constriction projects over time with collected user fees.

Because of the $75 resident landfill fee rolled into property taxes, residents still won’t be charged a fee when they visit the landfill. However, the proposed fee increases have escalators, with fees for residents s increasing by $2.50 and $4 for trash haulers every two years.

Smith said, despite the increase, the fees are still lower than in neighboring Fairfax County.

The landfill accepts 380,000 tons of trash a year from homes and businesses, including restaurants, which produce some of the heaviest waste, said Smith.

Meanwhile, in Manassas, residents will pay more for trash collection. The fee will increase to $5 monthly for single-family homes ($31.59 per month) and $7.50 for townhomes ($35.38 per month). Single-family homes will get trash service once a week, while townhome residents will see service twice weekly.

The city mailed a notice about the increase in this month’s utility bills. According to the flier,  the city’s fees are lower than Alexandria and Fairfax City and on par with Fairfax County.

Manassas doesn’t use the Prince William County landfill. It sends its trash to a facility in King George County, deputy city manager Bryan Foster told PLN.

The Prince William County Solid Waste Division will host a Compost Awareness Day event on Saturday, May 6, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. with its partners Freestate Farms, Virginia Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Volunteers, and Keep Prince William Beautiful. The event will be held at the Balls Ford Road Compost Facility, 13000 Balls Ford Road, Manassas.

Attendees can learn about backyard composting, ask questions, and find out about the composting process at the County’s state-of-the-art facility.

Event includes:

• Free compost samples (bring your own 5 gallon bucket)Compost bin sales
  Compost and gardening information
• Community beautification information
• Compost facility tours at 10:30 a.m. and noon
• Food scraps collection

Volunteers from the VA Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners program will be present to share materials on the benefits of composting and its use and information on yard waste and food composting at home.

Keep Prince William Beautiful volunteers will share community beautification ideas and opportunities. In addition, attendees can take home a free compost sample in their own bucket, compliments of Freestate Farms. Residents can also drop off food scraps to be composted. Backyard compost bins will also be available for purchase. Compost facility walking tours will begin at 10:30 a.m. and 12 noon.

This Prince William County event supports International Compost Awareness Week (ICAW), the compost industry’s largest and most comprehensive education initiative. ICAW promotes composting efforts in the backyard and, at large scale, commercial composting facilities, like the County’s Balls Ford Road Compost Facility, operated by Freestate Farms.

This year’s theme, “For Healthier Soil, Healthier Food…Compost!” According to the Compost Research & Education Foundation, the theme was chosen based on a serious world-wide issue that every nation, unfortunately, experiences: hunger.” The 2023 theme best reflects the goal of focusing on how compost can have a role in helping feed the world by making our soil healthier, which produces healthier food. By recycling organics into compost and using it on our farmlands, we create healthy soils that produce healthier food and higher yields. It also reduces the need for fertilizer and pesticides, improves water quality, conserves water, and stores carbon in soil – helping to reduce climate change. Compost not only helps the environment but also helps to decrease food shortages experienced around the world.

In October 2021, Prince William County implemented a yard waste collection program to better manage this organic resource, which is 13% of the waste stream. Local trash and recycling haulers now collect yard waste separately from other trash and recycling for composting at the Balls Ford Road Compost Facility versus landfilling.

Residents can also bring yard waste such as leaves, brush, garden, and hedge trimmings to the Balls Ford Road facility or the County Landfill to be processed. The resulting compost and mulch products can be purchased at either Solid Waste facilities.

Attend Compost Awareness Day on May 6 and learn more about composting. Visit pwcva.gov/trashandrecycling for more information about yard waste collection regulations and other Solid Waste services.

The Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) and Electronics Recycling program at the Landfill will be temporarily closed.

According to a press release, the current contract expires at the end of December, and the contractor is unwilling to extend the contract because of the difficulty obtaining labor and higher operational costs.

The Prince William County Solid Waste Division anticipates that the program will be closed to residents in January and February and will reopen in March 2023 with a new contractor.

Due to the time needed to transition to a new contractor, the HHW facility will temporarily close to the public for up to 60 days. Prince William County government staff will work with the new contractor to resume service as quickly as possible.

This program is provided through a private contract specializing in hazardous waste disposal and recycling. Staff is working on getting a new contractor and anticipates an award of the new contract within the next few weeks.

Prince William County residents can bring HHW items and electronics to the County Landfill on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. until Saturday, December 31, 2022.

Residents are limited to 15 gallons of liquids or 40 pounds of solids. Items should be in their original labeled containers. Electronics items are limited to three units.

There is no charge to county residents for this service.

Information about the Household Hazardous Waste and Electronics Recycling program updates and other Solid Waste Division services is online.

There are new hours for the Rappahannock Regional Landfill. Starting Saturday, December 3, and each weekend afterward, the landfill will open one hour earlier, at 8 a.m.

Monday through Friday, the landfill will close a half hour earlier, at 4 p.m.

The landfill at 489 Eskimo Hill Road serves the residents of Stafford County and Fredericksburg city.

?New Residential Hours beginning Saturday, December 3?
?Saturday and Sunday: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
?Monday – Friday: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Learn more: https://t.co/w0N2pO27yg pic.twitter.com/sJhsfSQpy2

— RBoardSTAFFRED (@RBoardSTAFFRED) November 28, 2022

The Prince William County Landfill, at 14811 Dumfries Road (Route 234), and the Balls Ford Road Compost Facility, at 13000 Balls Ford Road near Manassas, will no longer be open on Sundays beginning November 6.

This is a consequence of the ongoing labor shortage – specifically for heavy equipment operators and CDL driver positions. Despite the county’s efforts to recruit and reassign employees, they do not have sufficient staff to safely operate both the Landfill and Balls Ford Road Compost facility to continue to offer Sunday dropoff.

In the meantime, the agency that manages the landfill, Prince William County Solid Waste Division, says residents can apply for decals to affix on their truck windshields for faster access to the landfill and recycling center on the days the facilities are open.

Prince William County residents can apply for the Solid Waste Disposal Decal online and the decal will be mailed. The decal should be received in 2-3 weeks.

A resident may also complete and submit the decal application in person at Taxpayer Services in the James J. McCoart Administration Building, Sudley North Government Center, 7699 Ashton Avenue near Manassas, or Dr. A.J. Ferlazzo Building, 15941 Donald Curtis Drive in Woodbridge and receive the decal the same day.

The decal is unavailable to commercial users or residents of the towns and cities — Manassas, Manassas Park, Haymarket, Dumfries, Occoquan, or Quantico.

The decal must be permanently affixed to the inside of the vehicle windshield. Place the decal on the driver’s side, one inch from the left edge and two to three inches above the state inspection sticker. Loose or taped decals will not be accepted.

The decal is not transferable and may be revoked if used in violation of the Solid Waste system regulations.

• The decal may not be given to or shared with non-County residents.
• The decal does not relieve the holder of any fees that may be applicable.
• County staff reserves the right to ask for other identification.
• There is no charge for this decal and the decal does not expire.
• No more than two (2) decals per address will be issued.

In other waste news, Prince William area residents are encouraged to take the America Recycles Day “I Recycle” pledge for an opportunity to win a $300 REI gift card, plus a $500 environmental grant for a local school if the winner is in the kindergarten to 12th grade.

You can take your pledge online thru November 20. The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments will announce the winner in December.

Looking ahead to next year, the county scheduled its next paper shredding event for Saturday, May 20, 2023 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Pfitzner Stadium Parking Lot, 7 County Complex Court in Woodbridge. There will be a four-box limit.

The Prince William County Landfill, at 14811 Dumfries Road (Route 234) and the Balls Ford Road Compost Facility, at 13000 Balls Ford Road near Manassas will no longer be open on Sundays beginning November 6.

This is a consequence of the ongoing labor shortage – specifically for heavy equipment operators and CDL driver positions. Most employees must work mandatory overtime hours to keep the facility open, according to a statement from Coles District Supervisor Yesli Vega.

Despite the county’s efforts to recruit and reassign employees, they do not have sufficient staff to safely operate both the Landfill and Balls Ford Road Compost facility to continue to offer Sunday dropoff.

According to the county’s Director of the Department of Public Works, the county does not anticipate improvement in labor availability shortly due to the passage by Congress of the “Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act” and more stringent training requirements for new CDL drivers.

The landfill and Balls Ford Road Compost Facility reopened for Sunday service in April after closing on Sundays in January 2022. Across the region, trash haulers have struggled to maintain regular trash pick-up service.

Prince William and Stafford county residents must hire a private contractor to haul away trash from their homes and businesses. In cities like Manassas and Fredericksburg, the local government provides trash service.

We’ve got some news about the landfills and recycling centers in Prince William and Stafford counties.

First, in Prince William, the county’s landfill at 14811 Dumfries Road at Independent Hill will close at 2 p.m. on Labor Day, Monday, September 5.

The Balls Ford Road Compost Facility at 13000 Balls Ford Road near Manassas will also close at 2 p.m. on Labor Day. Both facilities will reopen on Tuesday, September 6 at 6 a.m.

Stafford County is home to a regional landfill for the county residents and those who live in Fredericksburg City. The dump sits at 489 Eskimo Hill Road in Stafford Countyd and will be closed on Labor Day.

This week, the R-Board, which manages the landfill, and the Stafford County Government posted a video about the landfill and how to use the facility. The video is below.

In recent months, the R-Board waived landfill entrance fees for residents who contract with GFL trash haulers to have waste removed from their homes. The trash hauler could not provide service to multiple customers following its purchase of County Waste, the firm that had been providing trash services.

The landfill began charging entrance fees for GFL customers again on July 25, 2022.

R-Board Regional Landfill Tour from Stafford County Government on Vimeo.