Prince William County, VA Trash & Recycling: Recycling Requirements (2026)

Sec. 22-170(a) requires occupants of residential dwelling units to separate newspapers, cardboard, mixed paper, #1 and #2 plastic bottles, jugs and jars, and metal food and beverage cans (aluminum, steel, tin) for collection, and bars residents from combining those materials with regular trash. Within 270 days of the ordinance's effective date, residents also had to start separating yard waste for composting from March through December and Christmas trees during the first two weeks of January. Subsection (b) puts the same separation duty on apartment and condominium owners, who must build a recycling system covering storage, handling and transportation of those materials for their tenants; subsection (c) then binds the individual apartment and condo occupants to the same separation list.

Subsection (d) extends the mandate to non-residential and business properties, which must set up a system for whatever "principal recyclable material" is defined at Sec. 22-2, plus separate handling for fluorescent lamps, batteries and mercury switches. Subsection (e) requires every other non-residential generator to recycle the material comprising the greatest share, by weight or volume, of its waste stream. Licensed refuse removers must collect and separate the material under subsection (g), consistent with Sec. 22-43, and submit a recycling plan as part of the county hauler permit process.

Subsection (h) requires anyone running a commercial recyclable-collection business in the county to register with the county and comply with the reporting duties of Sec. 22-169, though employees, nonprofit fundraisers and residents transporting their own material are exempt. The Director of Public Works, with the County Executive's approval, can add or delete which materials are covered.