Some Peninsula residents are wondering what to do with their recycling after the Virginia Peninsula Public Service Authority abruptly ended its curbside recycling contract with Tidewater Fibre Corporation.
The regional authority’s decision to terminate the contract will put curbside recycling on hold for James City County and York County starting Oct. 1. Recycling pick up for Williamsburg and Poquoson won’t be immediately affected.
Tidewater Fibre Corporation has provided recycling pickup services for those areas since 2018.
The authority said the company skipped pickups, spilled recycling on roadways without proper cleanup and damaged property without notifying residents. It cited these and other "significant performance deficiencies" as reasons it ended the contract.
“Waste diversion is important for reducing landfill waste and promoting environmental sustainability,” said the authority’s executive director, Jennifer Wheeler. “However, it is imperative that we conduct this work responsibly.”
Tidewater Fibre Corporation said in a media statement the regional authority recently started "unreasonably scrutinizing" its performance and making demands "well above the required contractual terms and conditions."
"TFC provided curbside recycling services every other week to over 35,000 households in July and received 131 claims of missed pick-ups," the company wrote in the statement. "In August, service improved, with just 103 missed pick-ups. In most service industries, a 99% service completion rate is viewed as an impressive metric."
Wheeler said the regional authority is working to find long-term recycling solutions. In the meantime, local governments are scrambling to come up with short-term plans.
In York County, recyclables left curbside will be collected as trash through Oct. 31 and sent to the landfill, said county spokesperson Kelli Tatum. Residents can also take their recyclables to one of the county’s drop off centers, where they will be sent to a recycling facility instead of the dump, she added.
“After Oct. 31 the recycling bins are no longer going to be collected curbside, but we're asking folks to hold on to their bins until we can come through this, and hopefully we'll have a solution in place by then,” Tatum said.
In James City County, residents can drop off recycling at one of three locations, said Grace Boone, the county’s director of general services.
“We're asking our residents to hold on to their cart because we're actively working on a new provider, and so we wanted to ensure that they hold on to their cart,” she said.
Boone expects to have more information in the next week.
Poquoson entered into an emergency contract with Tidewater Fibre Corporation to continue recycling services through the end of November, said city spokesperson Jessica Hartley.
Williamsburg doesn't expect disruptions from the decision. The city contracted Republic services, its curbside garbage collector, to pick up curbside recycling as regularly scheduled.
Curbside recycling has been a point of contention in the Hampton Roads area in recent years. The city of Chesapeake abandoned curbside recycling completely in 2022, citing rising costs. Norfolk considered the same in 2024 before ultimately renewing its contract with its recycling provider and keeping curbside service.
The authority that handles the southside’s regional landfill has been working on an effort that would use artificial intelligence to sort recycling from trash and make separate recycling bins unnecessary.