Fairfax County's 1st Electric Trash Trucks Part Of Carbon-Neutral Goal

LORTON, VA — Fairfax County is rolling out its first electric trash truck that will pick up trash and yard waste on routes across the county, with an official unveiling of the truck scheduled for Friday.

Fairfax County said it expects to have a second electric trash truck operational by September. The county's other trash trucks are diesel fuel-powered vehicles.

The county is the first jurisdiction in Virginia to purchase an electric trash truck, with the next closest jurisdiction with an EV trash truck in New Jersey.

The Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services (DPWES) has 42 collection trucks in its fleet. These new EV trucks will replace others currently in its fleet.

Each electric truck costs nearly $350,000, funded by the department’s Solid Waste Management Program and a grant from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.

When the trash truck's battery has less than 20 percent power, it will take up to five hours to recharge. Once the electric trash truck is on its route, it can hold up to seven tons of recycling and up to 12 tons of trash, according to Fairfax County.

Range issues are not expected to be a concern for electric garbage trucks, since they will run regular and predictable routes each day. And then at the end of each day, the trucks will return to the same location where this is a charging station.

Customers who receive trash and recyclables collection from the Fairfax County government account for about 10 percent of households in the county. For the remaining homes and businesses, a private collection company picks up the trash and recyclables.

The rollout of the new electric trash trucks are part of Fairfax County’s strategy to become carbon-neutral with its government operations by 2040. Along with the environmental and climate benefits, the electric trash trucks will save money by requiring less overall maintenance and eliminating fuel costs, according to Fairfax County.

DPWES also has installed two charging stations at its Newington Collections facility in Lorton, where the solid waste collection trucks will be based. DPWES also has four electric sedans in its fleet. Overall, the Fairfax County government has 50 fully electric vehicles in operation.

The public is invited to an official unveiling of the electric vehicle truck on Friday, Aug. 25, at 11 a.m. at the Newington Collections Facility at 6901 Allen Park Road in Lorton.