Fairfax County

Fairfax County Is No Longer Accepting Glass in Curbside Recycling

Fairfax County asked residents to stop including glass in their curbside recycling.

The county said it is too difficult and expensive for the county to separate glass from other recyclables.

Instead, glass should be dropped off at one of about 20 purple bins across Fairfax, Arlington and Prince William counties and Alexandria.

“We’re encouraging residents to reuse glass at home, but when that’s not an option, bring it to one of our purple cans,” Fairfax County Director of Recycling, Engineering and Environmental Compliance Eric Forbes said. “No longer place it in your curbside recycle bin or place it in the trash. Basically you have two options at this point.”

Glass collected in the purple bins is loaded into a large machine that smashes the glass down into a reusable sand or pebble.

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