In the Roundup this week: Fairfax County’s largest solar array; the hidden textile recycling business; good news from Quebec’s beverage container recycling program; and hopeful news on a global plastic pollution treaty.
Conversion of Lorton landfill into Fairfax County’s largest solar array underway – FFX Now, June 17, 2025
This week, work officially begins to install a 37-acre, 5 megawatt solar array on part of the closed I-95 Lorton landfill site. Slated to be Fairfax County’s largest solar installation, the project is expected to generate enough energy to power the equivalent of 1,000 homes. Fairfax County’s Department of Public Works and Environmental Services has entered into a power purchasing agreement, or PPA, in which a private energy company will build, own, and maintain the solar array, and the County will purchase the energy produced over the course of the 30-year lease. The electricity will be credited to various County departments and agencies. The county expects to save $12 million during the lease term.
Behind Goodwill’s popular ‘bins,’ a hidden operation transforms American castoffs into global goods – ClickOrlando.com, June 16, 2025
This article profiles the trajectory of donated clothing through a Florida Goodwill outlet. As items come in from donation points, they are processed and set out in bins for shoppers to pick through and purchase by the pound. Following that step of the process, the facility bales unpurchased items and sells them on to international vendors that ship much of the textiles overseas to Central America, South America, Africa, and the Middle East. According to the story, this process diverts millions of pounds of clothing and shoes from area landfills and gives the items another chance at life. However, it must be recognized that the exportation of unwanted American textiles has also been shown to overwhelm the infrastructure in developing countries, simply displacing our waste on other economies less equipped to deal with it.
Second phase of Quebec’s beverage container return program demonstrates positive results – Recycling Product News, June 4, 2025
The rapidly expanding beverage container recycling program in Quebec has recently been gaining ground. The province has implemented a deposit system for returned cans and bottles. Fifty return sites are operational, with another 110 slated to open across Quebec. Residents have the option to collect their deposits via an app, which allows easy tracking and a convenient cash alternative. Starting on March 1st, the program also expanded to include all ready-to-drink plastic beverage containers. In just over a year since its inception, the program collected 130 million containers. This demonstrates the public appetite, willingness, and policy efficacy of beverage container return programs that employ easy-to-use recycling collection systems.
Global push to end plastic pollution gains ground in Nice – UN News, June 12, 2025
Three years ago, the United Nations Environment Assembly called for a global treaty to address the planet’s staggering plastic pollution problem. An Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) formed and began a series of intensive treaty negotiations, the most recent of which occurred last week in Nice, France. The negotiators have reportedly drafted treaty language that they hope to finalize at their next meeting in August. This global treaty would address all elements of the plastic life cycle, from production through use and recycling to waste management. The INC hopes to present final treaty language for countries to adopt and ratify by 2026, to include both mandatory and voluntary measures to drastically reduce plastic pollution and its harmful effects.
