Ivy Material Utilization Center (MUC)

Free Mulch is available – as of March 11, 2024

Photo/Andrew Shurtleff Photography, LLC

4576 Dick Woods Road, Charlottesville, VA 22903

Phone: (434) 295-3306

For detailed directions, click here.

Regular Hours of Operation

Monday – Saturday  7:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Sunday: CLOSED
*Please allow sufficient time to unload before closing time*

2024 Holiday Closings: 

  • New Years’ Day – Jan 1    
  • Memorial Day – May 27
  • Independence Day – July 4   
  • Labor Day – Sept 2   
  • Thanksgiving Day – Nov 28  
  • Christmas Day – Dec 25

Minimum Disposal Charge

Albemarle County residents and businesses:   $6.00 plus $1.00 service fee

Non-Albemarle County residents and businesses:   $6.00 plus $10.00 service fee

Schedule of Fees

Payment Options: We accept credit card, cash, check or previously opened accounts at the Ivy Material Utilization Center.

New Accounts can only be opened through the Main office at Moores Creek. For more information about creating a new account, contact the Accounts Receivable Technician at 434-977-2976 ext. 180. 

Items Accepted at the Convenience Centers

  • Aluminum Beverage Cans
  • Corrugated Cardboard
  • Mixed Paper
  • Plastic Films
  • #1 Plastic Containers
  • #2 Plastic Containers
  • Office Paper
  • Glass
  • Newsprint
  • Mixed Metals
  • Motor Oil
  • Antifreeze
  • Compostable Food Waste
  • Tag-a-bag Refuse

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

Styrofoam is NOT accepted at any recycling location. 


Program Services

Daily Paint Collection at Ivy MUC

Paint Cans

Paint Collection at IMUC

Ivy Material Utilization Center (MUC) 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

Citizens Convenience Center

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 Material Utilization 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.

Mail Order Tag-A-Bag Stickers

Mail Order Tag-a-Bag Stickers Purchases are available Starting on June 15, 2020.

If interested, customers should include the following information:

  • Make out checks, payable to “Rivanna Solid Waste Authority” in the amount of $24 per 12 stickers (or multiples thereof), please write “Tag-A-Bag” in the check memo section.
  • Send checks to: Rivanna Solid Waste Authority Tag-a-Bag Stickers, 695 Moores Creek Lane Charlottesville, VA 22902
  • Include, with your check, the Mail Order Form or write your mailing address and contact information on a sheet of paper

Mail Order sticker purchases may take up to 10 business days to complete.

Stickers may also be purchased at the Scale House at the Ivy Material Utilization Center during normal operating hours.

• 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 Material Utilization 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 MUC. 

Used Cooking Oil

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 Waste Drop Off

Household food scraps for composting

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

Compost

Bulk compost is for sale at the IMUC 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.

Mulch

Mulch Grinding Operation

Double Shredded Mulch -Free

RSWA produces a top grade mulch product by recycling wood waste that is brought to the Ivy Center. 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 Material Utilization Center at (434) 295-3306 to check on mulch availability.

Free Mulch is available – as of March 11, 2024

Encore Shop

Ellen at the Encore Shop

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.

 

Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) and Bulky Waste Days

HHW Days at Ivy MUC

Bulky Waste Amnesty Days at Ivy MUC

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