Fairfax urged to buy garbage incinerator

Fairfax County’s staff is urging the Board of Supervisors to buy a $400 million Lorton-area trash incinerator, promising the purchase will result in significant savings by 2029. The recommendation, favoring public ownership over privatization, came during the supervisors’ closed meeting on Tuesday, according to a document obtained by The Washington Examiner.

The site, which burns 1.7 billion pounds of the county’s trash each year and generates energy in the process, has been operated by Covanta Fairfax for the past 20 years. Even if Fairfax purchases the facility, Covanta remains under contract to operate it until at least 2016.