The Resource Recovery Division has prepared a strategic plan that will guide the City’s solid waste management for the next 20 years. On January 12, 2019, City Council unanimously voted to adopt the WasteSmart Strategic Plan.   

The WasteSmart Strategic Plan will ensure that Alexandria continues to be a good steward of its waste by both preparing for emerging environmental concerns and taking advantage of technological advances that are coming.

• Read the WasteSmart Strategic Plan

• City selected for USDA Composting and Food Waste Reduction Cooperative Agreement
  The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) selected the City of Alexandria as one of the 2023 Composting and Food Waste Reduction Cooperative Agreement recipients. With USDA's support, the City will launch a pilot curbside food waste composting program for selected residents receiving City trash and recycling services. 
• Low NOx Technology Installation
  COVANTA Alexandria Waste-to-Energy facility recently completed planned enhancements to its state-of-the-art pollution control technology to further reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions. 
• Food Waste Composting Services at Old Town North Farmers' Market
  On July 17, the City launched a new, year-round food waste composting drop-off location at the Old Town North Farmers’ Market.
• Plastic Bag Tax
  The City has adopted an ordinance to impose a five-cent tax for disposable plastic bags offered at grocery stores, convenience stores, and drug stores. This tax would be charged for every bag provided at checkout. The tax effective date is January 1, 2022. 
• What Goes Where Sorting Tool 
  The City of Alexandria has launched a new resource that makes sorting items for recycling and trash collection easier. “What Goes Where” is a new web application that enables residents to find information on which items–such as rechargeable batteries, plastic bags, clothing and glass bottles–can be donated, repaired, recycled, composted, disposed of, and more.
• City Joins Region in Removing Glass from Curbside Collection to Ensure Recyclability
  Effective January 15, 2020, customers who receive City recycling service must bring glass containers to one of the region’s “purple bin” drop-off locations to ensure the glass will be recycled. Glass collected at the purple bins are hauled to a processing plant in Fairfax County and recycled into new glass bottles or crushed into gravel and sand that can be used in local public works projects. 
• Recycle Right Alexandria Sorting Game
  The Resource Recovery Division received the Virginia Recycling Association's "Show Me the Way Award" for the Recycle Right sorting game. The award recognizes organizations that have taken actions to have a positive impact on people's understanding of how to recycle. The City's new sorting game teaches children age 7 and up to properly sort recyclables, yard waste, and trash. Visit alexandriava.recycle.game to play!  

• City of Alexandria's Reuse Directory
  Reduce and Reuse comes before Recycle. Reducing waste and reusing is the most effective way to save natural resources, protect the environment, and reduce costs. The City of Alexandria launched an online Reuse Map & Directory. This directory allows the user to find locations to donate, repair, and consign materials through local vendors and businesses. The creation of this Reuse Directory was identified as a short-term action item for the City’s WasteSmart Strategic Plan.

• WasteSmart Strategic Plan 
• Letter of Support from the Environmental Policy Commission 

• SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT PLAN (SWMP) 
  The SWMP was developed in response to regulations adopted by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality in 2001 that require all local Virginia jurisdictions to submit updated twenty-year plans by July 1, 2004. The plan meets the state requirements and lays the groundwork for the future expansion of the City's solid waste programs. 

In July 2017, the City retained an independent firm to complete a series of seven memorandums to evaluate the City’s current waste management programs and provide recommendations for future long-term management strategies. The final draft memorandums were completed in July 2018 with a series of recommendations for the City to evaluate. These technical papers were utilized in the development of the strategic plan. 

• Task 1 & 2 - Evaluate current services and benchmark with other communities
• Task 3 - Review costs and benefits of collecting solid waste by contract
• Task 4 - Identify opportunities to increase revenue by offering new services
• Task 5 - Evaluate the collection and processing of recyclables separate from regular trash
• Task 6 - Evaluate the environmental benefits of current waste collection and processing practices
• Task 7 - Evaluate feasible alternatives to operating a waste-to-energy facility in Alexandria after 2038 and recommend a general planning schedule for managing Alexandria’s solid waste beyond 2038