Goochland residents invited to weigh in on recycling barriers study

Goochland County residents have until Aug. 31 to weigh in on what makes recycling hard to use, from unclear rules to the extra trip to a drop-off center. The county is part of PlanRVA and the Central Virginia Waste Management Authority’s Recycling Barriers Study, a regional effort aimed at finding why recycling remains difficult, inaccessible or confusing across the Richmond region.

PlanRVA says the study comes as local landfills are reaching capacity and is meant to produce a recommendations report to guide improvements. The agency’s longer-term target is ambitious: raise the region’s recycling rate to 80% by 2042. To get there, it says it needs to hear from residents about the barriers they face now, including limited knowledge of solid waste practices, myths about recycling, inconsistent information from trusted sources and service gaps tied to where people live.

Those gaps can look different in Goochland than they do in denser parts of the region. As of July 1, 2025, the county’s curbside program served 44 subdivisions and more than 2,277 households, at a cost of $62.76 per household each year. Residents in approved subdivisions use large 96-gallon wheeled carts, while people outside subdivisions rely on drop-off recycling at the county’s Central and Western Convenience Centers. County FAQs say curbside service may also be available outside subdivisions on a case-by-case basis.

For many residents, convenience is the biggest barrier. The Central Convenience Center is at 1908 Hidden Rock Lane in Maidens, and the Western Convenience Center is at 3455 Hadensville-Fife Road in Goochland. For households weighing whether to use curbside service, the county says new enrollment begins in April for the next fiscal year starting July 1. Residents in approved subdivisions can order a cart or ask about enrollment by contacting Wendy Grady at 804-556-5340 or wgrady@goochlandva.us.

Questions about missed collections or recycling problems can be reported to CVWMA’s hotline at 804-340-0900. The county also points residents to CVWMA for holiday schedules, accepted materials and collection-day information, a sign that the survey is trying to capture the places where those details still break down in real life.

Goochland is also listed among the jurisdictions in PlanRVA’s Don’t Trash Central Virginia litter-prevention partnership, tying the recycling study to a broader regional push to cut waste and clean up the Richmond area.