Residents in Campbell County, Virginia, can now recycle with less effort, as the county has eliminated the need to sort through approved materials by hand at some collection sites.
WDBJ reported that several county waste locations now have a single compactor for recyclables, allowing residents to place accepted items together instead of sorting them first.
For households short on time, the change could make recycling more practical while also supporting the county's longer-term effort to limit landfill strain.
What happened?
According to WDBJ, Campbell County has installed large recycling compactors at four waste collection sites, allowing residents to drop off more recyclable materials in one place.
A nonprofit grant helped fund the upgrade, and Elite Recycling is partnering with the county to machine-sort the compacted material afterward.
WDBJ reported that Campbell County Public Schools already uses this co-mingling approach, which means residents now have less sorting to do before they recycle.
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Rustburg District Supervisor Jon Hardie said the model is already delivering benefits.
"That's saving us dollars every single year. Whether our residents realize that or not, that is a very effective way of recycling and making sure that we don't just dump things into a landfill," Hardie said.
Workers at one of the sites also told WDBJ that the new compactor quickly created more capacity, since the older bins filled up fast and did not compress cardboard.
Why does it matter?
The recycling update comes as Campbell County considers the future of the Region 2000 landfill in Rustburg, WDBJ reported. The landfill is expected to reach capacity in 2029, and if it is not expanded, the county may have to build a waste transfer center to move trash elsewhere.
Recycling more material can help the landfill last longer and reduce how much waste ends up buried.
Residents in Hardie's district, where the landfill is located, do not want it expanded, he told WDBJ.
What's being done?
For now, the county is beginning with these four sites, but more collection locations are expected to get recycling options later.
The system reduces sorting at the drop-off point, gives workers more room to handle materials, and leaves the final sorting to machines after collection.
"We have to realize that it is our duty to protect what God gave us with our planet and to pass it along to the next generation," Hardie said.
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