Fairfax County Garbage Pickup Options: Republic Services v. American Disposal Services (apartment, HOA)

[DMVonian]

I am trying to pick between one of the two. They are both not budging on price, and come around $46 per month, plus a $66ish dollar one time fee for two bins (garbage and recycling). Having come from a place where this is included in my property tax, it burns to talk to these companies, and figure out their fees, and pick up rules.

Questions:

1) Does 46 dollars a month sound reasonable? (that's 12 dollars a pick up, and it appears to be more than double what it was less than a decade ago!),

2) is there any way to get a discounted price? (Republic's website suggests there is a 2 year contract option for 36 a month, but their customer service knew nothing about it).

3) Are "Republic Services" and "American Disposal" pretty much the same in terms of service? They appear to be the only two in my area, and are both only 1 pick up a week, and appear to have bad reviews on google.

4) Had anyone gone to go pick up the bins themselves, so to avoid the initial pick up fees?

I understand there is also a change fee, but neither was being upfront about it. I assume that's if I am month to month. I don't expect to be leaving this place anytime soon so I am fine with a contract so long as I am not locked in with horrible service, and the price is better.

I know the above may appear that I'm being frugal, but I just hate paying exorbitant amounts for services like this that appear to be taking advantage of their monopoly (especially when I hear it was less than half the price less than a decade ago).

[boyd888]

Well most of the county uses one of the two services, but it's not like you are going to find glowing reviews online bc who leaves a positive review for trash service...


You can also take your stuff to the dump yourself, will be $17 a trip unless you are over 60 (recycling is free). China doesn't buy our recycling anymore so trash disposal fees are way up across the board.

[spencgr]

Like any service you buy, quality is based on the actual people who serve you. Have you asked your neighbors?

[graceC]

I've used both and found American Disposal to be slightly better. We used Republic Services first for many years, and then they started playing around with the pickup schedules (bins were there at the curb on the usual pick-up day but weren't picked up without notice or explanation for the no-show). We had to call and tell them to come and pick them up but I got tired of telling them to do the job they're contracted to do so I changed to American Disposal.

[sprklcl]

What about Patriot Disposal (which our community's HOA uses and also an apartment community used to live in)? They are a family run company. Not sure if they serve all areas of Northern Virginia, or what their rates are if you contract them individually, as for us our HOA includes it with other services in our monthly fee. No issues with them, on occasion pickup late in the day, but most often after 7am to early afternoon. Trash pick up here twice a week and recycling once a week. You can get different size trash cans from them such as 32 gal, 64 gal, or 96gal which are more durable than those from Home Depot or Lowes and can get more than one of the smaller, and can get up to two of the single stream recycling bins of standard size or again use your own. They also do bulk pickups once a week. We have exchanged hellos on occasion if out in the yard with one or two of the trash men.