Virginia Law

The board may adopt an ordinance requiring the delivery of all or any portion of the garbage, trash and refuse generated or disposed of within such county to waste disposal facilities located therein or to waste disposal facilities located outside of such county if the county has contracted for capacity at or service from such facilities.

Such ordinances may provide that it is unlawful for any person to dispose of his garbage, trash and refuse in or at any other place. No such ordinance shall apply to the occupants of single-family residences or family farms disposing of their own garbage, trash or refuse if such occupants have paid the fees, rates and charges of other single-family residences and family farms in the same service area.

Such ordinance shall not apply to garbage, trash and refuse generated, purchased or utilized by an entity engaged in the business of manufacturing, mining, processing, refining or conversion except for an entity engaged in the production of energy or refuse-derived fuels for sale to a person other than any entity controlling, controlled by or under the same control as the manufacturer, miner, processor, refiner or converter. Nor shall such ordinance apply to (i) recyclable materials, which are those materials that have been source-separated by any person or materials that have been separated from garbage, trash and refuse by any person for utilization in both cases as a raw material to be manufactured into a new product other than fuel or energy, (ii) construction debris to be disposed of in a landfill, or (iii) waste oil. Such ordinances may provide penalties, fines and other punishment for violations.

Such county may contract with any person, whether profit or nonprofit, for garbage and refuse pickup and disposal services and enter into contracts relating to waste disposal facilities which recover energy or materials from garbage, trash and refuse. Such contracts may make provision for, among other things, (i) the purchase by the county of all or a portion of the disposal capacity of a waste disposal facility located within or outside the county for present or future waste disposal requirements; (ii) the operation of such facility by the county; (iii) the delivery by or on behalf of the contracting county of specified quantities of garbage, trash and refuse, whether or not such county collects such garbage, trash and refuse, and the making of payments for such quantities of garbage, trash and refuse whether or not such garbage, trash and refuse are delivered, including payments for revenues lost if garbage, trash and refuse are not delivered; (iv) adjustments to payments made by the county in regard to inflation, changes in energy prices or residue disposal costs, taxes imposed upon the facility owner or operator, or other events beyond the control of the facility operator or owners; (v) the fixing and collection of fees, rates or charges for use of the disposal facility and for any product or service resulting from operation of the facility; and (vi) such other provision as is necessary for the safe and effective construction, maintenance or operation of such facility, whether or not such provision displaces competition in any market. Any such contract shall not be deemed to be a debt or gift of the county within the meaning of any law, charter provision or debt limitation. Nothing in the foregoing powers granted such county shall include the authority to pledge the full faith and credit of such local government in violation of Article X, Section 10 of the Constitution of Virginia.

1985, c. 581, § 15.1-730.1; 1997, c. 587.