Churches Face Higher Fees For Trash Pickup As Fairfax Co. Ends Service

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — Fairfax County stopped providing trash and recycling service to about 300 of its institutional customers, including churches, on Oct. 1 as part of the county’s effort to focus its resources on residential customers and reduce the county's contribution to greenhouse gas emissions.

Switching to a private contractor to collect their trash and recycling now means churches and others in this class of customers are paying a higher monthly fee for the service, even though Fairfax County said the change could lead to lower trash and recycling costs for the customers. The higher trash and recycling rates are coming at a time when churches are already facing financial hardships.

Bush Hill Presbyterian Church in the Franconia area of Fairfax County is now paying almost $140 more per month to the private contractor than it was paying as a customer of Fairfax County. That higher amount does not include recycling services, which it was receiving from Fairfax County.

"Unfortunately, we now have to pay more than 3.5 times, including a fuel surcharge, what we paid to Fairfax County, and we can't afford to recycle," Tara Islas, church administrator for Bush Hill Presbyterian Church, said in an email to Patch. "Many churches are struggling with switching to using dumpsters instead of toters (trash cans) since now churches are designated as 'commercial' and not residential. 'Commercial businesses' only use dumpsters."

Mount Vernon Presbyterian Church, another church affected by Fairfax County's discontinuation of service, said it also had to switch to a private contractor for trash and recycling service and is now paying about three times its old rate.

In the Fort Hunt area of Fairfax County, another church said the task of finding a private contractor for its trash and recycling has been arduous.

"The biggest challenge for a small church like ours is cost," the church told Patch. "For the exact same service that the county provided, the quotes have ranged from $200 to $310 a month with a variable fuel surcharge of 1.25 percent (if gas prices are $2.70) up to 20 percent (if gas prices are $7.00)."

With the increase from $66 per month under the service provided by Fairfax County to $130 per month under private contractor service, the church said it will not be able to contract for recycling services. Staff and church members will end up having to take recycling home to put in their home recycling bins, the church said.

This summer, Fairfax County's Department of Public Works and Environmental Services (DPWES) notified the 300 non-residential customers that it planned to end their trash and recycling service on Oct. 1.

"To meet our obligatory code-required trash, recycling, and yard waste collection and management services as well as the Board's environmental and sustainability directives, it is necessary for DPWES to adjust our service offerings," the department said in an email to Patch.

Along with providing 90 days' notice to the institutional customers, the department offered assistance during the transition for the customers to find new service providers.

Because the customers "are sparsely distributed across the County, it is highly inefficient for DPWES to directly serve all these locations in our current service model," the department said.

"Additionally, because these routes require unique types of collection vehicles to empty the larger containers, they pose an additional maintenance burden on DPWES and our partners in the Department of Vehicle Services," the department said. "Allowing the private sector to serve these institutional facilities will improve the operational efficiency of our core residential services."

Currently, DPWES handles trash and recycling for about 10 percent of the county's residents. For the other 90 percent of residents, private collection companies pick up the trash and recycling.

When it was receiving service from Fairfax County, Bush Hill Presbyterian Church said it paid $52.80 per month for four trash cans and two recycling cans. Now, with a private contractor, the church pays about $188 per month for a 4-yard dumpster, with no recycling.

In a July 3 letter, DPWES Director Christopher Herrington told Bush Hill Presbyterian Church and other institutional customers that the county was discontinuing trash and recycling cart service to non-residential customers, effective Oct. 1.

“DPWES is unable to continue to offer this service due to persistent staffing shortages and equipment challenges,” the department said in the letter to the church. “Moving to the private collection system will improve efficiency and reduce the number of collection vehicles operating in your area. This will help with our community’s environmental goal to reduce greenhouse gases.”

DPWES also noted the change could lead to a lower cost for the non-residential customers “due to more efficient routing by the private sector.”

“These companies are already operating in your area and have route density (e.g., many locations near each other). In contrast, the current DPWES model sends collection vehicles on long trips throughout all of Fairfax County to service spread out facilities, leading to higher cost, reduced efficiency, and increased emissions,” Herrington said in the letter.

Instead of a lower cost, Bush Hill Presbyterian Church and other churches in Fairfax County are now paying more for their trash and recycling services from the private contractors.

"We are a small church and this transition has been financially difficult for us," Islas said. "We are also very disappointed we can't afford to recycle anymore."