The city of Virginia Beach is weighing the future of its recycling program, the latest local government to grapple with market changes that have driven up the cost of recycling in recent years.

The city’s contract with Chesapeake-based TFC Recycling expires at the end of June. Officials say they want to hear from residents about what to do next. 

That could include raising fees to support the program, eliminating curbside service or allowing people to opt in and out.

“Doing nothing is not an option,” city officials wrote in a presentation on the topic.

Uncertainty in the recycling market stretches back to 2018, when China stopped accepting most of the recycled materials exported by the U.S. due to stricter quality standards. Everyone tied to the recycling business has been navigating through the upheaval ever since.

Virginia Beach says the global commodities changes have made it more expensive to collect, process and ship recyclables to where they can be turned into new products.

Kristi Rines, the city’s recycling coordinator, told WHRO earlier this year that increased costs on the industry side “is going to eventually catch up to the municipal side.”

“People buy things without the idea of who has to take care of that when you're done with it,” Rines said. “And it becomes the burden of a municipal government to manage that waste.”

Rines was part of a task force last year appointed by state lawmakers to study the issue. Technological and economic changes in waste management have made it more difficult for localities to meet state recycling requirements, the task force said in its report.

Facing the same challenges, Chesapeake last year opted to end city-funded curbside recycling, which served about 70,000 homes, to save $2 million. The city directed residents to private subscription companies instead.

Hampton Roads leaders have also had regional discussions about changing how they handle glass, which is a notoriously difficult substance to transport to recycling facilities. 

It’s heavy and delicate and, in Virginia, often ends up repurposed for lining landfills. James City County has started accepting glass directly in purple bins throughout the area and sends it straight to the O-I plant in Toano.

About 125,000 homes in Virginia Beach currently receive curbside recycling services. The city spends more than $4.6 million on recycling each year, including operating drop-off centers and recycling at city-owned buildings. 

If the city continues its current level of service with TFC, residents could expect their monthly costs to rise by between $2.50 to $4 per month.

Virginia Beach could instead get rid of the curbside services and focus on boosting drop-off locations, costing about $400,000 per center. That would be absorbed through the current waste management fee.

A third option pitched by city officials is an opt-in process. Residents who choose to continue curbside recycling would have a contractor collect it. 

Virginia Beach officials say about 44% of what ends up in its bins is not recyclable. Recyclable plastic makes up only about 2% of the city’s collected recyclables. 

Only clean paper, bottles and cans are accepted in most Hampton Roads recycling bins. That does not include most of the plastic that invades our lives, such as the clamshells from a lunch salad, bags from the grocery store or straws. (Each locality has its own rules for accepted materials. You can look up yours on AskHRGreen's online regional guide.) 

“Wishful recycling” – people throwing in non-recyclable items in the hopes it’ll be recycled – can impact a facility’s equipment and contaminate other items.

Virginia Beach residents can learn more and fill out a survey about recycling at speakupvb.com/recycling  starting Monday through November 17. The feedback will help inform policy and funding decisions about recycling in next year’s budget, the city says.

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