We have a good plan for closing our incinerator and we need your support to make it happen!

This November the Council will vote on 2 resolutions:

Option 1: Supports keeping our incinerator open for the long-term as the County's primary method of solid waste disposal.

This is why we need to close our incinerator…it is:

• 31-years-old, at the end of its useful life. Estimated costs to fix it are $356 to $500 million to keep it running for another 25-30 years. A new, state-of-the-art facility would be more than a billion dollars.
• the largest industrial polluter in our County and the toxic emissions contribute to higher levels of chronic lower respiratory disease and cancer. This year there were two dioxin leaks. Higher standard pollution controls would cost millions of dollars.  
• producing 150,000 tons of toxic ash yearly, and the ash is dumped in a landfill next to a densely populated majority Black community in Virginia.
• delaying the expansion of food scrap composting. If we continue to burn our trash it would cost an additional $26 million and 7 years to build a new facility.

Option 2: Supports closing the incinerator and transitioning to the disposal of the County's solid waste at out-of-county landfills.

• Increase waste reduction, re-use, and recycling through collection and composting of food scraps.
• Immediately use the $25 million allocated for building the food scrap composting facility and ramp up the residential composting program.
• Divert our trash to landfills that meet strict environmental justice criteria and capture methane gas.
• Reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and create incentives for waste reduction programs.
• Obtain private financing for sustainable technology, such as advanced waste processing (AWP) to recover more recyclables from our waste.