Arlington County is enhancing its recycling program for people who live, work, or visit multi-family or commercial establishments. The County now calls for multi-family residential properties and businesses to give residents and customers the opportunity to recycle more materials, such as cardboard, magazines, plastics, and metal items. Commercial property owners will receive letters detailing the changes.
“The County continues expanding its recycling program to make it easy for all to recycle in Arlington – whether they live in multi-family properties or work for a local business,” said Dept. of Environmental Services Director William O’Connor III. “By stepping up education and recycling requirements in the County, we plan to capture more recyclables while reducing trash – which ultimately will provide cost savings for County businesses and residents while helping to preserve our resources.”
The County Board approved changes to the County recycling code at its December 11, 2010 meeting, requiring Arlington businesses and multi-family residences to offer their customers and tenants expanded recycling for:
- Mixed paper (including junk mail, cardboard, office paper, and food boxes)
- Metal cans
- Glass food and beverage containers
- Aluminum
- Plastic
- Metal items
Under the new requirements, business and property owners have 90 days, starting February 1, 2011, to provide a recycling program. Guidance for the program is available on the County Web site. If you have further questions, call 703-228-6570.
Do you know what happens to your recycling in Arlington? Watch this video:
Keeping hazardous materials out of the waste stream
The revised recycling code also requires that thermostats containing mercury and televisions and computer monitors with a traditional picture tube (cathode-ray tube) be recycled, not disposed of as trash. The County provides curbside pick-up of old TVs and monitors through its residential recycling program for a fee. Visit the County Web site, or call 703-228-6570 to schedule a pick-up. Residents may also drop these items off at the Hazardous Household Materials Facility.
The County provides metal household item recycling for curbside customers. To recycle items such as appliances, bicycles, grills, iron furniture and other metals, call 703.228.6570 or visit the County Web site to schedule a pick-up.
For more information about the new recycling code or to view the code, visit the County’s recycling Web site.
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