The DEQ conducts an annual report compiling regional recycling rates.

Those numbers are self-reported by the regional solid waste planning units, and the most recent report, in 2017, doesn’t reflect the China ban. The DEQ recycling report for 2018 is due later this year and will show just how the state has fared after taking a big hit in 2018, when China halted plastic recycling imports.

In the past, most regions have comfortably met the 25% recycling rate that’s typically the state minimum requirement. None of the solid waste planning units — which typically incorporate several localities in a region — that were required to report fell below that figure in 2017.

The state requires solid waste planning units with more than 100,000 residents to report their recycling rates using a calculation that factors in product consumption compared with recycled or reused material.

The state code requires each SWPU to have at least a 25% annual recycling rate, unless the population density is less than 100 people per square mile or the unemployment rate is more than 50% higher than the state unemployment average. In those two cases, the minimum recycling rate is 15%.

The SWPU that encompasses Charlottesville and Albemarle has fared poorly compared with statewide averages in the most recent report.

The Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission SWPU, which includes Charlottesville and the counties of Albemarle, Fluvanna and Greene, produced a recycling rate of 32.2%, which is well above the minimum threshold for recycling but 10.8 percentage points below the state’s overall recycling rate of 42.8% in 2017.

In comparison, the Central Virginia Waste Management Authority, which includes Richmond and surrounding localities, was the best of all 17 SWPUs required to report, with a 59% recycling rate.

The DEQ is analyzing 2018 figures provided by localities and plans to finalize that report by November, according to Gregory Bilyeu, a spokesman for DEQ.

Officials with the TJPDC SWPU and Central Virginia Waste Management Authority provided Charlottesville Tomorrow their 2018 reports ahead of the official release by DEQ. The two regional agencies noted that those reports have not been finalized by DEQ.

Despite the blow to the recycling world when China announced it wouldn’t be taking plastic recycling imports from the U.S., the TJPDC SWPU actually fared better in 2018. The Charlottesville-area agency saw a modest increase in its recycling rate, jumping from its 32.2% recycling rate in 2017 to 36.6% in 2018, based on preliminary figures. That still would put the Charlottesville area below the state average, if Virginia ends up hovering around the 42.8% rate it saw in 2017.

However, Deeds expressed some concern about whether some localities might struggle to meet the state’s 25% recycling rate threshold now that China has banned plastic imports.

“We’ve got mandates … and we’re not going to be able to meet our goals because the Chinese aren’t taking plastics, and we haven’t really developed use for them domestically.”

The Central Virginia Waste Management Authority saw virtually no change in its recycling rate in 2018 — with a 58.7% recycling rate in 2018, compared with 59% a year prior, based on preliminary 2018 numbers.

The formula to determine a region’s recycling rate accounts for the tons of material disposed compared with recycled. From there, regions can earn up to 5 percentage points in credits tacked onto their recycling rates if they have systems in place that promote sustainability, including programs designed to reduce the sources of wastes.

In the region encompassing Charlottesville and Albemarle, there are about 197,000 people. Here, there was 176,000 tons of waste in 2018, of which 120,000 tons were disposed and 56,000 tons recycled.

In the Richmond region, there were 1.2 million people in 2018 and 980,000 tons of waste, of which 454,000 tons were disposed and 526,000 tons recycled.

Both regions were credited for their sustainability efforts, adding 5 percentage points to their recycling rates.

Richard Nolan, the director of operations for CVWMA, said the DEQ checks the math in the reports and looks to make sure that the numbers make sense, and after analyzing and addressing any oddities, sends a letter to the localities approving their rates.

The DEQ also reviews the solid waste management plans for completeness. Any SWPU that falls below the required recycling rate is required by DEQ to submit a Recycling Action Plan.

The overall state recycling rates haven’t fluctuated much in recent years. The 2017 recycling rate of 42.8% just barely bested the 2016 figure of 42.6%. The recycling rate was 44.2% in 2015 and 42.5% in 2014.

The report shows that that far less plastic was recycled than paper and metal across Virginia. Only about 103,000 tons of plastic were recycled, compared with 700,000 tons of metal and 428,000 tons of paper.

Across the 17 regions in Virginia required to report, which encompasses 117 localities, about 2.6 million tons of material was recycled, compared with 4.3 million tons disposed.

While the overall figures have been stable in recent years, Rines said the system at least creates some accountability among the regions and also reveals areas in which improvements are needed.

Rines — who in addition to her role as Virginia Beach’s recycling coordinator also is the executive director of Keep Virginia Beach Beautiful and a member of the Virginia Recycling Association’s board of directors — said she’s never seen the DEQ audit the data from her SWPU. She called the system “good faith reporting.”

However, Rines added that the numbers at least her department provided are clearly truthful, because they’re thorough and also show some unflattering dips.

She said Virginia Beach’s yard debris recycling declined considerably in the past two years because the city lost access to the composting facility that previously took yard debris. Having to report those numbers serves as a wake-up call that it’s an area that needs to be addressed, she said.

“We don’t like the decline in that number. We want that number to be better,” Rines said. “So, that’s an upside to one of those reports. You’re able to look at what you’ve had, look at the improvements.”

Officials are also able to spot changes in solid waste consumption, for example, and then justify updating city equipment used for recycling, Rines said.

As to the verification process used by DEQ, spokesman Greg Bilyeu wrote in an email that the individual localities and SWPUs are responsible for collecting their own recycling data for the recycling rate reports.

“DEQ provides guidelines as to how recycling rates should be calculated and reported,” Bilyeu said. “Webinars are also offered by DEQ for the planning units on how to report as accurately as possible.”

One webinar, for example, simply walks local officials through the reporting process using a spreadsheet.

From there, Bilyeu said, the DEQ “checks the numbers for consistency and any significant changes that may have occurred due to the market or other conditions.”

The DEQ also is working on a report to the General Assembly that evaluates Virginia’s solid waste recycling rates and creates a set of recommendations for improving the reliability of the supply of recycled material during the next 10 years.

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