CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. — Government leaders in Chesterfield County said they were "cautiously optimistic" about the county's decision to cut ties with a public curbside recycling program. While initial data shows privatized curbside recycling has resulted in fewer participating households and fewer materials being recycled, the county is leaning on its newly added community initiatives to make up for the loss.
In the back of Huguenot Park, the sound of waste being diverted from the landfill rang out Monday as residents dumped bags of bottles, plastics, cardboard, and more into recently installed recycling bins.
"I feel like this is a good thing, and if it helps the environment, and I just wish people would do what they should do," Linda Roberts, who brings her recyclables to the park weekly, said.
In September, the county added bins to seven public parks across the county, just a couple of months after ending its curbside recycling program through the Central Virginia Waste Management Authority (CVWMA).
CVWMA's program used to cost residents $41 per year.
But in July 2023, Chesterfield pulled out of the regional program and encouraged families to buy subscriptions through private haulers if they wished to continue curbside recycling.
The private companies charged between double and triple the price of what residents paid through CVWMA; However, the county said those prices were still less expensive than what its preferred renewed contract through CVWMA would have cost.
“It just doesn't make any sense. Costs have gone up. The reporting has disappeared, at least from the CVWMA site, and the numbers that Chesterfield has provided to you suggest that there hasn't been an improvement in recycling," Chesterfield resident Mark Bartok, who was critical of the county's decision to privatize recycling, said.
The county government's website posted a blog last month that stated its new approach to recycling is estimated to outperform the number of recycled materials it collected through CVWMA in prior years – more than 13,000 tons.
CBS 6 asked to see the data.
According to a county spokesperson, the data Chesterfield used to make its projection was provided to them by the private haulers.
The numbers showed that between July and October 2023, Chesterfield collected 5.9 million pounds of recycled materials through curbside recycling, a much lower number than the previous year. In the same timeframe in 2022, CVWMA collected 8.1 million pounds in recycled materials in Chesterfield.
CVWMA had 62,000 participating households, while the private vendors combined currently have 46,000 participating households.
“Were you expecting to see a lower number in curbside recycling?” reporter Tyler Layne asked Chesterfield's Director of General Services John Neal in an interview Friday.
“I was, because once we once we announced that we were transitioning away from CVWMA, we saw a downtick in the number of subscribers. So that was to be expected," Neal responded.
But to supplement that decrease, Neal said the county added free recycling options at public parks and expanded hours at the county's two convenience centers.
He said both the parks and centers are receiving significant traffic.
Of the data that was initially available, the park sites collected 145,000 pounds of recycled items in October 2023.
The convenience centers collected nearly two million pounds from July to October 2023 – a significant increase from 744,000 pounds in the same time period in 2022.
The county is relying on what it collects at parks and convenience centers to project a higher annual tonnage of collected recyclables this year.
“I think the numbers are strong overall for the community, and with the options that are available, we’re on track to continue to be a leader in recycling in the region," Neal said.
“Are you confident in the way that this is going that by the end of the year, you believe Chesterfield made the right decision?” Layne asked.
“Absolutely. We made the right decision," Neal answered.
CVWMA said after Chesterfield pulled out of its curbside program, it saw a 17% drop in recycled items through its programs.
But in the other eight participating localities, the collection was up 15% through drop-off and curbside recycling in July - October 2023, according to executive director Kim Hynes.
Hynes credited the increase to CVWMA providing households with bigger bins in Henrico, Hanover, and Goochland.
However, CVWMA said it would not make any projections through the end of the year because "there are many factors that impact recycling volumes, such as seasonality, weather, etc."
Meanwhile, Bartok said he hoped the county would reverse its decision and rejoin CVWMA's program.
“Chesterfield is the largest county that can make the largest contribution to recycling in CVWMA," Bartok said. “It just seems to me that Chesterfield County, instead of saying, ‘Okay we’ll make this private and we'll substitute some other places that are a little bit less convenient,' maybe they could have said, 'Hey, what can we do to increase participation?'"
The county acknowledged it needed to see a full year's worth of data before making any official determinations on the effectiveness of its initiatives.
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