Most businesses in Prince William County must file Recycling Report by Oct.15

Businesses in Prince William County must now complete and file an annual recycling report with the Department of Public Works by Oct. 15 each year. 

Code changes that took effect in January 2021 moved the reporting deadline from Feb. 15 to Oct. 15.

Section 22-169 of the Prince William County Code requires all businesses and other non-residential properties that produce trash within the county to report on its activities by October 15. 

Home-based businesses and businesses located within the incorporated towns of Dumfries, Haymarket, Occoquan, or Quantico are exempt from filing this report.

The Prince William County Business Recycling Report may be completed on-line by the person most familiar with trash and recycling.  It will take about 10 minutes. The report form is accessible via the Prince William County website, http://www.pwcva.gov/businessrecycling or send an email to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) to receive a direct link to the report.

This information is required each year so that Prince William County can comply with the Commonwealth’s annual recycling reporting requirements.

For calendar year 2019 (the most recent year data is available), the County’s recycling rate was 38.2 percent. This was almost a three percent more than the 2018 rate of 35.3 percent. However, a waste composition study conducted at the Prince William Landfill in 2013/2014 found that 70 percent of the items discarded as waste by businesses and residents were recyclable resources. That means there are numerous opportunities to improve the County’s recycling rate.

One such opportunity to improve the County’s recycling rate begins Oct. 1 with a new yard waste program. Organic material like yard waste and food waste made about 30 percent of the material in the afore mentioned study. 

Yard waste will now be collected separately from trash and taken to the Balls Ford Road Compost Facility to be processed into compost, a beneficial soil amendment, instead of being buried in the landfill.

The Solid Waste Division encourages businesses and residents to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle waste appropriately to help conserve natural resources and landfill capacity for future generations.

For more information about the annual business recycling report, the new yard waste program and composting,  or to learn more about ways to reduce, reuse and recycle waste in Prince William County, go to http://www.pwcva.gov/trashandrecycling or call the Solid Waste Division at 703-792-4670.