As Fairfax Co. considers overseeing residential trash collection, some worry their businesses could be in jeopardy

Fairfax County Virginia is considering changing who collects residential trash a step that a few local business owners worry will put their futures in jeopardy At the moment most of residents or homeowners associations oversee the logistics of trash collection themselves The county only handles that process for about of residential customers according to county material But county leaders are proposing they oversee the logistics of the process negotiating prices and dividing the county s single-family neighborhoods into what are called Unified Sanitation Districts Until the county has control of the countywide system we re not going to be able to address the concerns that the board and that we are receiving about too numerous different private trash companies operating in any neighborhood wildly inconsistent pricing noted Christopher Herrington director of the county s Department of Society Works and Environmental Services Various folks have the same provision from the same company and pay a different price as their neighbor The step Herrington explained would also help the county reach its sustainability goals He expects the switch which is subject to board approval would product in lower prices and more convenient operation for residents Under Virginia law counties can oversee trash collection after establishing Unified Sanitation Districts but the locality is required to give private companies five years notice Therefore Herrington declared Nothing can change for at least the next five years Larry Foster one of the owners of Evergreen Disposal announced the switch would lead to a feasible lack of arrangement increase in fees and loss of choice His company services about homes and has worked in Fairfax County for over a year Evergreen provides glass in its recycling Foster reported saving residents time from dropping it off in purple bins If you want once-a-week facility twice-a-week organization whatever it s a good choice and it breeds competition Foster disclosed When you have competition like when we came in with putting glass in recycling it s a great opportunity to help the neighborhood in means that other people can t David Biderman president of Biderman Consulting stated the change would outcome in homeowners losing their ability to switch waste haulers if they re unhappy with the arrangement they re getting Once a big company wins a contract the institution quality goes down historically Biderman commented As part of the proposal residents would have their trash collected by private-sector contractors who are working with the county directly There haven t been final decisions made about what services would be provided and how often if the change were made Herrington announced I know selected folks in the neighborhood are concerned Well how do we know exactly what would happen for us Herrington disclosed The difficulty is we can t go to procurement and hire a contractor that won t get paid or won t start work for five years from now Herrington addressed small businesses concerns about their operations saying the county has been contracting our new customers to be served by private haulers and both big companies and small companies have won those contracts Supervisor Pat Herrity is hosting a virtual town hall on the realizable change Tuesday night and a Board of Supervisors citizens hearing is scheduled for later this month Source