Post date: Mar 9, 2021, 10:04 PM
Fairfax County has approved a new prohibition on using plastic bags for Yard Waste. While the County will not be enforcing this prohibition until April 19 (exercising their discretion for a 6-week grace period to allow time for customer notification and education), Republic Services has informed us that they will be implementing this policy sooner, and will refuse to collect Yard Waste in plastic bags starting next week, on Wednesday, March 17.
Our Board has been in contact with the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to try and resolve this discrepancy, as we believe that Republic should follow the County guidelines and honor the 6-week grace period for implementation of this new policy. However, this prohibition on using plastic bags will likely affect us starting next week, unless Republic changes their decision to implement this new policy more than a month earlier than required by the County.
For reference, here is a link to the official Fairfax County notice of this amended ordinance that prohibits the use of plastic bags for collection of Yard Waste, and which will now require the use of either Reusable Containers or Paper Yard Waste Bags to set out grass, leaves, and brush, at your curbside for collection:
And here is another Fairfax County link that contains FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) about this new policy:
https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/publicworks/recycling-trash/elimination-plastic-yard-waste-bags-faqs
The Board will continue to investigate whether we can delay the implementation of this new policy by Republic, but for now, please be prepared that Republic will likely refuse to pick up plastic yard waste bags starting next week.