Leesburg, Va. Opens Second Food Waste Drop-Off Site After 35-Ton Pilot Year

Leesburg, Virginia has diverted more than 35 tons of food waste from the landfill since December 2024, and the town is now betting a second drop-off site can double that figure. The new station opened at Tuscarora Creek Park, 425 Solitude Ct. SE, expanding a pilot program that until now ran from a single location.

The first site, installed in December 2024 at the Liberty Street parking lot, 204 Liberty Street SW, has collected the 35-plus tons of food scraps over roughly a year of operation. The Tuscarora Creek Park location operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Both services are free for Town of Leesburg residents, who can deposit food scraps at no charge rather than placing them in the trash stream bound for the landfill.

What changes for Leesburg's organics stream?

The expansion gives the town two continuously available intake points for household food waste, a material stream that municipal solid waste systems typically send to landfill. The town frames the program as a diversion play: every ton of food scraps dropped at the sites is organic material routed away from burial and into composting.

Deb Moran, the Town's Sustainability Manager, laid out the operational rationale. Composting food scraps reduces methane emissions from landfills, she said, and produces a nutrient-rich material that improves soil health, supports plant growth, reduces the need for fertilizers and helps store carbon.

"Residents have strongly supported food waste composting and remain committed to disposing of food scraps sustainably," Moran said. "We're excited to bring this service to more areas of Town and hope to double the amount of food waste diverted from the landfill."

A pilot with a measurable baseline

The program's first year gives Leesburg a concrete number to track against. The 35 tons collected at Liberty Street represent the benchmark the town now aims to exceed as the second site comes online. If the drop-off network doubles throughput as Moran hopes, the town would divert roughly 70 tons of food waste annually at full run rate — a figure that remains modest against total municipal waste but marks a deliberate shift in how Leesburg handles its organics.

The siting strategy points to scale. Liberty Street sits in the town's core near the downtown parking corridor; Tuscarora Creek Park extends coverage to a different neighborhood, shortening the trip for residents who previously had no convenient option. Round-the-clock access at the new site removes time constraints that can suppress participation in staffed or limited-hours programs.

What happens next

The milestone to watch is the diversion count. Leesburg has set its own target — doubling the tonnage pulled from the landfill — and the town will publish further program details through its municipal website, leesburgva.gov. Whether the second site converts resident commitment, which Moran says surveys and usage have already demonstrated, into doubled tonnage will determine if the pilot graduates from experiment to permanent infrastructure.