Ivy Solid Waste & Recycling Center

Paint Collection at Ivy SWRC

Ivy Solid Waste & Recycling Center offers paint collection on a daily basis in order to better serve our customers’ needs and eliminate long lines at our popular Fall and Spring Household Hazardous Waste days. The RSWA board approved this change, and we began accepting paint in August of 2016. Note: due to traffic and staffing during our Household Hazardous Waste Days, patrons with paint only will be routed through the Household Hazardous Waste lanes.  Paint brought on normal operation days will check in with the scale house and be directed over to the tipping floor area for disposal.

Paint Collection Guidelines

ACCEPTING:

• Latex and Oil-Based Paints
• 1 Gallon, 5 Gallon, Quarter Gallon Containers
• Must Be in Original Paint Cans

NOT ACCEPTING: These items are classified as Household Hazardous Waste. Please dispose of those items at our Spring or Fall Household Hazardous Waste Days.

• Spray Paint
• Paint-related products
• Adhesives (Glue, Putty, Caulk)
• Paint Removers, Thinners, or Solvents
• Sealants
• Wood Preservatives

Citizens Convenience Center

Located below the scale house, the Convenience Center includes easy drop-off for some recyclables, compostable food waste, household waste and bag or receptacle contained trash. The Convenience Center is staffed for those citizens who bring their own bagged trash and recyclables to the Ivy Solid Waste & Recycling Center.

For a nominal fee, 32 gallon trash bags with trash stickers may be deposited at a waste container located at the Convenience Center (turn right on road prior to the scale house). Each bag (up to 32 gallons in size) must have a RSWA sticker.

Tag-a-Bag stickers can be purchased at the Ivy scale house. TAG-A-BAG STICKERS are $2.00/one or a sheet of 12 for $24.00/each. Bags or cans larger than 32 gallons or loose items must cross the scales.

• Residents may also drop their newspaper, magazine, catalog and cardboard recyclables in the recycling containers.

• RSWA collects certain limited household hazardous waste (HHW) materials at the Solid Waste & Recycling Center from residents of Charlottesville and Albemarle County: Motor oil, antifreeze.

For a full list of recyclable items accepted at each facility, please visit the Recyclable Accepted page.

Please do not bring hot or smoldering items to the Ivy SWRC. 

Used Cooking Oil

Located under the roofed shelter next to the Compostable Food Waste, RSWA maintains a 300-gallon covered bin for collecting Used Cooking Oil.  Used Cooking Oil consists of cooking oils and flowable fats and greases.  Keeping these materials out of community sewer and septic systems helps avoid costly maintenance to keep these systems operating smoothly.

Materials that we collect in this bin are taken to a facility and composted for disposal.  Please do not put solids (plastic containers, bones, paper towels, etc., in the container).  Bones and solidified fats and greases can be placed in the Compostable Food Waste Bin.

Household food scraps for composting

Compostables must be brought in compostable bags (not regular plastic trash bags).  Good news: we have free three-gallon compostable bags on site.  You can also find the bags (brand name “Biobags”) at Kroger, Whole Foods, and Bed, Bath & Beyond.

NO YARD WASTE will be accepted. NO COMMERCIAL FOOD WASTE or NON-COMPOSTABLES will be accepted.

Composting at Ivy Brochure

Questions about acceptable items or how to compost?  Visit our Composting FAQ page

Learn more about composting from the City of Charlottesville’s Composting Program

Bulk compost is for sale at the Ivy SWRC at a price of $75 per ton.  This compost material, Commercial Compost, is locally produced by Panorama Paydirt in Earlysville, Virginia.  This compost material is produced from locally derived compostable food wastes (including compostable food waste collected at our McIntire Recycling Center).  All composts produced at Panorama Paydirt follow standards set by the VA Department of Environmental Quality and regularly monitored and tested following recommendations by the US Composting Council.  More information can be found at www.panoramapaydirt.com/products.

Double Shredded Mulch -Free

RSWA produces a top-grade mulch product by recycling wood waste that is brought to the Ivy SWRC. Stumps, brush, and other usable organic debris, which would otherwise be landfilled, are ground into mulch. Magnets remove nails and other metal fragments to further refine our mulch product. Free Mulch is available to the general public.

Call the Ivy Solid Waste & Recycling Center at (434) 295-3306 to check on mulch availability.

Mulch is available as of September 26, 2024.

Ellen at the Encore Shop (opened since 1998)

Encore Shop

Check out our Encore Shop, located adjacent to the RSWA Maintenance Shop. Businesses and private citizens are encouraged to drop off reusable items such as old doors, windows, sinks, 2 X 4’s, non-upholstered furniture,  computers, and the list goes on*! The items are available for resale to the general public for a nominal fee. Second-hand items can vary on a day-to-day basis. Your participation in the program helps conserve valuable landfill space and brings revenue to RSWA.

*Bedding and upholstered furniture are not accepted.

Bulky Waste Amnesty Days at Ivy SWRC

HHW and Bulky Waste Days are held each fall and spring. Visit the HHW page for details and upcoming dates.