A new composting facility will soon help process waste in the Prince William County area.
Work is about begin on the Balls Ford Road Yard Waste Compost Facility.
Freestate Farms, L.L.C., will build and run it, according to release from the county. It will be responsible for processing yard and food waste.
Prince William County Recycling Program Manager Scott MacDonald explained that food amounts to 14 percent of landfill waste.
“It’s a considerable amount of the waste stream,” MacDonald said in a release. “We don’t want to put that in the landfill, because we can put it to better use at the compost facility.”
Due to the project, officials won’t be accepting household hazardous waste and recyclable electronics, starting December 1.
“When you have construction going on, they need to be able to lay construction materials down. There’ll also be extra equipment around,” MacDonald said. “We’re anticipating that it’s going to be very difficult to run the household hazardous waste program while we’re under construction. We just think it’s the best thing to do for the safety of the public.”
Those items may be brought to the Prince William County Landfill, 14811 Dumfries Road in Manassas, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Trash and recycling will be accepted at the Balls Ford Road Citizen Convenience Center.
Once the facility is operational, it will serve schools, restaurants and grocery stores.
“Grocery stores want to recycle food waste, and restaurants want to recycle plate scrapings,” MacDonald said. “There’s a real lack of places to take food waste in this area.”
County residents may be able to bring food waste to the plant in the future.
The facility will offer technology that cuts the composting process from nine months to three. Compost can be purchased by businesses and residents at $22 per cubic yard.
More information is available on the county’s website.
