Committee recommends keeping landfill food‑waste drop‑off, continuing scaled yard‑waste composting and studying expansion to schools and county facilities

The committee received a multi‑year update on the county’s composting pilot programs and voted to recommend staff options to the full Board.

Tony Hayes, Loudoun County recycling manager, described the county’s efforts to upscale vegetative‑waste composting at the landfill and to pilot a public food‑waste drop‑off center. Hayes said the county has composted nearly 6,000 cubic yards of material since upscaling and has given away roughly 500 cubic yards of finished compost to the public. The food‑waste drop‑off site, constructed in October 2023 and opened in November 2023, is staffed and on a contractor schedule: collected food‑waste bins are removed and taken to a commercial composting facility in Frederick, Maryland.

Staff recommended four actions to the committee: 1) continue the upscaled vegetative‑waste composting operation at current levels (do not commercialize production at this time), 2) retain the landfill food‑waste drop‑off center as a permanent county feature, 3) authorize feasible studies for food‑waste composting at county facilities and Loudoun County Public Schools where meals are prepared and served, and 4) authorize a feasibility study to evaluate up to nine additional permanent public food‑waste drop‑off sites.

Supervisor Sainz moved the committee recommendation; Supervisor Briskman seconded. Committee members discussed preferred public locations for additional drop‑offs (county‑staffed facilities or recycling drop‑off centers with oversight), and staff said the continuation of the landfill drop‑off could be maintained within the existing FY2026 budget and that schools expressed interest in participation. The committee approved the recommendation and referral to the Board 5–0.

Staff will return with feasibility study results and site‑specific plans if the Board votes to authorize studies.