Mandatory Recycling Rates for Localities
In 1989, the Virginia General Assembly adopted legislation which set the following recycling rates for communities:
10 percent by December 1991, 15 percent by December 1993 and 25 percent by 1995. Each county, city, town or regional authority was required to establish recycling programs that would meet these goals.The statutory recycling rate of 25 percent continues today for many Virginia localities, but legislation introduced in 2006 provides for a two-tiered recycling mandate - 15% and 25%. Localities or regions (called Solid Waste Planning Units or SWPUs) with population densities less than 100 persons per square mile or with an unemployment rate 50% higher than the statewide average now qualify for a 15% mandated recycling level, with all others remaining at the 25% recycling mandated level.
Regulations for the Development of Solid Waste Management Plans (9 VAC 20-130-10 et seq.) require that Regions as well as each city, county, and town not part of a designated Region in the Commonwealth develop and maintain solid waste management plans. Section 9 VAC 20-130-120 B& C of the Regulations requires that a minimum recycling rate of 25% of the total municipal solid waste generated annually in each city, county, town, or Region be maintained. Note that with the 2006 legislation, the regulations were revised to include the 15% mandated recycling level for qualifying SWPUs. It also requires that the plan describe how this rate shall be met or exceeded and requires that the calculation methodology be included in the plan. Section 9VAC 20-130-165 D establishes that every city, county, and town in the Commonwealth, or solid waste management planning region (now SWPUs) shall submit to the Department of Environmental Quality by April 30 of each year, the data and calculations required in 9 VAC 20-130-120 B&C for the preceding calendar year. These annual submittals are the basis for establishing the state Recycling Rate in Virginia each year. Recycling Action Plans, or RAPs, may be a required part of the solid waste management plan if the SWPU falls below its mandated recycling rate.
CY 2009 Recycling Rate Report Information
CY 2009 Annual Recycling Rate Reporting Form
Recycling Rate Report - Guidance document
2008 Recycling Rate Report Information
CY 2008 Annual Recycling Rate Report - State Summary
2007 Recycling Rate Report
CY 2007 Annual Recycling Rate Report - State Summary
Recycling Rate Report Training Presentation - Guidance on completing the annual report
Status of Recycling in Virginia
The CY 2008 recycling rate for Virginia was 38.5%, which included credits for solid waste reused, non-MSW recycled, recycling residues, and source reduction programs.
Most of the highest recycling rates historically were experienced by programs in the urban areas of Virginia. They included:
Richmond Area
Northern Shenandoah Valley
Northern Virginia
Hampton Roads/Tidewater
Roanoke Area
Lynchburg Area
Fredericksburg Area
Waynesboro-Staunton-Harrisonburg
Charlottesville-Albemarle
This disparity was noted by the Virginia Recycling Markets Development Council, and in 2005 the Council met with local goverment officials all across the state to determine what problems faced lightly populated localities in recycling. The result of these meetings a change to the recycling legislation in 2006 to provide an alternative mandated recycling rate for lightly populated areas. (see Mandatory Recycling Rates for Localities above)
Historical Recycling Rate Data (CY 1991 - CY 2008)
- CY 2008 - 38.5%
- CY 2007 - 38.5%
- CY 2006 - 38.4%
- CY 2005 - 32.2%
- CY 2004 - 29.8%
- CY 2003 - 30.3%
- CY 2002 - 36.8%
- CY 2001 - 37.8%
- CY 2000 - 32.9%*
- CY 1995 - 35.0%
- CY 1993 - 33.4%
- CY 1991 - 19.7%
*Voluntary Report - Recycling Rate reporting was not required in Virginia from CY 1996 until CY 2001.