Fairfax County, VA Trash & Recycling: Holiday Pickup Schedule (2026)

The Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services (DPWES) publishes one standing holiday rule on its County Recycling and Trash Collection Customers page, under the heading Severe Weather and Holidays: regular trash, recycling, yard waste and special collection services are provided on all holidays except Christmas Day. The page does not print a list of holiday dates or a table of shifted days. It states the exception and nothing else, so no Thanksgiving delay, New Year's delay or one-day slide is announced for county crews.

For the 2026 season, that puts Thanksgiving Day on Thursday, November 26, 2026 as a regular collection day, and New Year's Day on Friday, January 1, 2027 as a regular collection day. Christmas Day falls on Friday, December 25, 2026, and it is the one holiday on which county collection is not provided. The county page prints no make-up day for Christmas Day. For the status of the week around December 25, check the Customer Notices page on the county site or call Customer Service at 703-802-3322 (TTY 711). The page also notes that the Customer Service Center itself is closed in observance of all county holidays, so phone help is not available on those days.

The delegating authority is Fairfax County Code Chapter 109.1. Section 109.1-1-3(a) makes the Director responsible for the administration and enforcement of the chapter, and section 109.1-1-3(b) gives the Director the power to make and issue fair and reasonable rules and regulations that carry out the purposes and intent of the chapter. The chapter defines the Director as the Director of the Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services or his or her designee. The code itself contains no holiday collection clause, so the schedule rule lives on the DPWES page rather than in an ordinance text.

Severe weather is separate from holidays. The same page says that in the interest of safety, trash and recycling collection may be suspended in severe weather or in emergency situations, with status updates posted on Customer Notices. Normal collection hours are 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., and carts must be at the curb by 6 a.m. on the collection day. Yard waste must be placed at the curb separately from March 1 through December 24.

Scope matters here. The county says only about 10 percent of Fairfax County residents receive collection from county government, and about 90 percent of residents and businesses are served by private collection companies. Those private haulers set their own holiday schedules, which can differ from the county rule. The City of Fairfax and the City of Falls Church are independent jurisdictions with their own services.