WasteSmart: Alexandria’s 20-Year Strategic Plan to Sustainably Recover Resources

The Resource Recovery Division has prepared a new strategic plan that will guide the City’s solid waste management for the next 20 years. On January 12, 2019, City Council unanimously voted to adopt the WasteSmart Strategic Plan.   

The WasteSmart Strategic Plan will ensure that Alexandria continues to be a good steward of its waste by both preparing for emerging environmental concerns and taking advantage of technological advances that are coming.

Read the WasteSmart Strategic Plan.

Relevant Documents

WasteSmart Strategic Plan

Letter of Support from the Environmental Policy Commission 

Technical Papers

In July 2017, the City retained an independent firm to complete a series of seven memorandums to evaluate the City’s current waste management programs and provide recommendations for future long-term management strategies. The final draft memorandums were completed in July 2018 with a series of recommendations for the City to evaluate. These technical papers were utilized in the development of the strategic plan. 

• Task 1 & 2 - Evaluate current services and benchmark with other communities
• Task 3 - Review costs and benefits of collecting solid waste by contract
• Task 4 - Identify opportunities to increase revenue by offering new services
• Task 5 - Evaluate the collection and processing of recyclables separate from regular trash
• Task 6 - Evaluate the environmental benefits of current waste collection and processing practices
• Task 7 - Evaluate feasible alternatives to operating a waste-to-energy facility in Alexandria after 2038 and recommend a general planning schedule for managing Alexandria’s solid waste beyond 2038