CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — The City of Chesapeake faced heavy backlash after ending its curbside recycling program in the summer of 2022.

Chesapeake leaders said the move saved about $2 million a year (the overall annual cost was about $4.49 million, the city said) by eliminating the city’s contract with Chesapeake-based TFC Recycling, which in turn would go toward raises for public safety employees. This came as many other cities across the country saw increased recycling costs, in large part due to China no longer accepting millions of tons of scrap plastic.

With no more curbside service provided by the city, citizens were encouraged to take their recycling to one of eight free drop-off sites, which the city said has proved “extremely successful.” There is also an option to continue getting curbside service through a private third-party provider (which can cost residents around $26-$29 per month).

In an update in May 2023, the city said overall collections were about 35% of what they were with curbside recycling (about 12,389 tons in FY 21-22 vs. an estimated 2,762 for FY 22-23) but the contamination rate for recycling was only 10%, resulting in a more efficient yield. About 58% of materials were previously being recycled.

Today, Chesapeake is still weighing its options for the future, and sent 10 On Your Side a statement that says “following City Council’s directions, staff continues to explore recycling options in partnership with the private sector.”

A potential reimplementation of curbside recycling would cost about $4.9 million to $6.7 million annually, which would equate to about $5.89 and $8.02 per month, per household, respectively, the city says.

They also say “the region is actively engaged in seeking large-scale recycling solutions,” through collaborations via the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission’s recycling committee, including the possibility of a “single bin system,” in which plastic, glass, etc. can go in the same bin as paper products.

Those systems have proven controversial because contamination can lead to many products not being recycled, but proponents say the ease of use and resulting higher yields can lead to more things being recycled overall.

Dennis Bagley with the Southeastern Public Service Authority, which manages municipal waste and landfill services for the seven Hampton Roads cities, Franklin and Isle of Wight and Southampton counties, said SPSA and its local municipality partners are looking at the possibility of taking that single-stream method a step further.

He says that could come in the form of what’s called an integrated materials recovery facility (MRF), a facility that uses specialized technology, including artificial intelligence, to process household garbage, recycling and organic waste (leaves, tree branches, etc.) all in the same place.

“This is the way of the future,” said Bagley, who shared that eight private business have responded so far for a request for information (RFI) to potentially build a facility somewhere in the region, and seven of those companies included a component to sort recyclables.

He said bids will close on April 30, and it could take until about summer of next year before any potential contracts are awarded. In total, one of these MRFs could cost about $750 million for a company to build, Bagley said.

Ultimately, “from the developers we’ve talked to it can’t be a Chesapeake-only solution, it needs to be a region solution,” said Chesapeake Public Works Director Earl Sorey about any potential plans for a MRF facility.

He says preliminary discussions with SPSA date back to 2015, but SPSA decided not to more forward at the time.

“When we first talked about this years ago, that technology was really still in the proof of concepts phase. Now there are system operational in Berkeley County, South Carolina, as well as Montgomery County, Alabama, and they’ve been operational since 2019,” Sorey said.

Sorey said back in a May 16, 2023 work session they’re also considering a possible “opt in” service for curbside recycling.

Virginia Beach and Norfolk

Elsewhere in the region, Chesapeake’s neighbors in Norfolk and Virginia Beach are facing a similar predicament over recycling. Both cities’ curbside recycling contracts with TFC conclude at the end of June 2024, and put out surveys to citizens to get their feedback.

Virginia Beach’s survey went through November 2023 and Norfolk’s ended on Friday, Feb. 9.

Virginia Beach didn’t have the results of the survey when contacted by WAVY, but City spokesperson Tiffany Russell said a presentation to city council was expected in February.

“We are still in the RFP process so any public discussion about this topic is still premature at this point,” Russell said. “Our Public Works team is in regular communications with our colleagues in other cities to discuss recycling, but ultimately the outcome for Virginia Beach will be a decision based upon the needs of the Virginia Beach residents and rate payers.”

Virginia Beach, which pays about $4.5 million annually for recycling collection, saw nearly 22 tons of recycling collected by TFC in 2022, and that number was projected to go up to nearly 26 tons in 2024, per data in the city’s FY 2023-24 budget. More than 70% of residents were satisfied with their recycling services, that data showed, well above the national average of 57%.

Norfolk’s survey, though, is available online, and shows there were 749 registered responses, and nearly 98% said that they currently use curbside recycling. City data shows around 11,000 tons of recycling is picked up annually, and Norfolk budgeted just over $3.6 million for recycling collection in its adopted FY2023 budget through the contract with TFC.

65% of those surveyed by Norfolk said they wouldn’t be interested in using a drop-off center, while 17% said yes and 18% said they weren’t sure.

63% said they believe it’s “very important” to keep Norfolk’s city-wide curbside, and cost was not a factor. 27% said it was moderately important, and some increases in fees would be acceptable if services continued.

Meanwhile Norfolk city spokesperson Chris Jones said it was still too early in the process to have an update from the city, as staff still needs to review the full findings before recommendations can be made.

Michael Benedetto with TFC Recycling indicated that rates will go up (Virginia Beach has estimated rates will go from just over $3 to about $6 per household), but believes the increases are reasonable, especially when you consider the past.

“When we first started the contract with the City of Virginia Beach in 1996, 27 years ago, we were charging more money [just under $3 per house] than we are today … and since the Virginia Beach contract was last done in 2017 we’ve seen the market change, we’ve seen the minimum wages go up, we’ve seen the cost of trucks, and gas, and insurance and everything go up significantly.”

He says that move by China in 2018 to no longer take the world’s plastic trash and recycle it also has made a big dent in profits that previously subsidized rates in places like Virginia Beach.

Moving forward, Benedetto says “if you want something done, and you believe in it, you make it convenient.”

“Imagine if we said ‘we support education, but we’re not going to run school buses,’ you gotta bring your kids to school.”

WAVY will continue to monitor the latest on negotiations and what citizens are saying on the matter. Check back for updates.