Albemarle County, VA Trash & Recycling: Collection Schedule (2026)

Albemarle County does not fix a single county-wide trash day, but it does fix how often recyclables must be picked up. County Code § 13-202 requires each waste collector serving residential units to collect the recyclable materials described in § 13-201(A), source-separated newspaper, magazine, container glass, metal cans, and plastic soda, milk and water containers, on either a weekly or a biweekly cycle. The requirement runs against the collector, not the resident: under § 13-201, a resident only has recycling picked up if they choose to participate in their collector's program, and the collector must in turn offer that service to every multi-family dwelling and apartment complex on its route.

A residential unit is defined at § 13-100 to include single-family and two-family dwellings, townhouses and mobile homes, but not multi-family buildings, which are handled separately as nonresidential units for permitting purposes. Only a business holding a current waste collection and recycling permit from the department of engineering and public works, issued and renewed annually under §§ 13-101 through 13-104, may operate as a collector subject to the § 13-202 schedule. A collector that fails to keep to the weekly-or-biweekly schedule is subject to the same violation process as any other breach of Article I or II of Chapter 13.