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Fairfax County is seeking public- and private-sector ideas for updating its trash and recycling operations, a planning effort that could shape near-term improvements and longer-term decisions about the county’s solid-waste system.

The Department of Public Works and Environmental Services issued a request for expressions of interest Aug. 4. Submissions are being accepted through Oct. 30. The request is not an official bid, and it does not establish a future change to residential collection service.

The county is inviting concepts related to recycling, waste diversion, processing, disposal, public-private partnerships, technology, service models and daily operations. DPWES said the request is part of “a larger effort to modernize how Fairfax County manages waste.”

“The overarching goals are to strengthen daily operations, increase how much waste is diverted from landfills and incinerators, bring in new technologies, and support Fairfax County’s long-term zero-waste goals and initiatives,” the department said.

The county’s collection system is largely operated by private companies. About 90% of residential trash and recycling collection is handled by private haulers, with the remainder collected by the county government.

The request comes after county officials backed away, at least temporarily, from a proposed unified residential trash-collection district. DPWES staff had proposed the countywide district in late 2024, a change that would have required five years’ notice to current private haulers. The proposal was abandoned earlier in 2026 after opposition from residents and the waste-hauling industry.

Fairfax requires haulers operating in the county to deposit trash at county-government sites and pay tipping fees based on tonnage. Increased tipping fees have raised concerns about waste being taken outside Fairfax County and about financial pressure on the I-66 Transfer Station and I-95 Landfill Complex.

DPWES staff also recently proposed a household trash tax of about $60 per year, which most county supervisors viewed negatively. The available information does not detail individual supervisors’ positions.

Fairfax has scheduled optional online information sessions about the request for Aug. 11 and Aug. 31. The county has not established through this request how future operations, costs or collection arrangements might change, and the available information does not identify a specific effect on Tysons residents or businesses.

“The RFEI invites concepts across a wide range of areas, including recycling, diversion, processing, disposal, public-private partnerships and new approaches to daily operations,” DPWES said.