Grounds Maintenance

OWCA Cluster common areas are maintained by Blade Runners.  Blade Runners visits weekly to mow common areas, remove leaves and grass clippings.  In the fall, the company provides neighborhood wide leaf removal on two separate dates, which are scheduled once the majority of the leaves have fallen.  Blade Runners also does occasional special landscape improvement projects as contracted by OWCA.

Trash, Recycling and Disposal of Stuff

Our awesome disposal service is provided by Con-Serv Industries (CSI).  The collection schedule is:
  • MONDAY - regular trash 
  • WEDNESDAY - recycling and yard waste 
  • THURSDAY - regular trash and bulk items
Details about what is collected are below.

Trash and Bulk Items

Recycling

Yard Debris
Trash is picked up twice weekly on Monday and Thursday. To discourage wild animals (yes, we do have them) from visiting our yards and common areas, residents are urged to put trash out for collection in closed receptacles.

Household Power Tools - CSI will pick up most household electric and gasoline power tools, such as lawn mowers, edge trimmers, chain saws and power washers. Note that gasoline-powered tools must be completely drained of fuel and oil to be accepted for collection.

CRT-equipped TV Sets - CSI has informed the cluster that they will pick up CRT-equipped TV sets of any reasonable size. Call CSI at 703.444.3181 if you have an especially large TV, such as a console model in a cabinet to be sure that they will pick it up.
 Picture
CSI uses a "single-stream" recycling system, which means all recyclable materials are mixed into a single container for collection and processing. After collection, recyclable materials are transported for processing to LFF Inc., Con-Serv's recycling center in Sterling, VA.  The following items can be included in curbside pick-up:

Paper and Cardboard Boxes
(includes office paper, magazines, phone books, newspapers, various colored papers, packing paper, folders without binding, and other mixed papers. Boxes do not have to be broken down, but they must be free of trash and food, like slices of pizza.)

Cans: aluminum and bi-metal (tin) 

Bottles: clear, brown, and green glass food and beverage containers

Plastics: Below is a basic list of the types of recyclable plastics and examples of their common uses.
  1. PET: bottles for soft drinks, water, juice, mouthwash, salad dressing. Food jars. Microwaveable food containers.
  2. HDPE: Bottles for milk, water, juice, cosmetics, shampoo, household cleaners.
  3. PVC: Rigid packaging including blister packs and clamshells. Flexible packaging includes bags for bedding, shrink wrap
  4. LDPE: Bags for dry cleaning, newspapers, bread, fresh produce. Shrink wrap and squeezable bottles.
  5. PP: Containers for yogurt, margarine, and takeout meals. Medicine bottles.
  6. PS: Plastic food service items such as plates, cups, cutlery, meat and poultry trays. Protective foam packaging for furniture and electronics. Packaging peanuts.
  7. Other: Three- and five-gallon reusable water bottles, some citrus juice containers and catsup bottles.
Non-Recyclables
  • Paper towels, napkins, tissues
  • Bound books or reports
  • Beverage glasses or tempered glass (i.e. window glass)
  • Cellophane, shrik wrap, or packing materials (i.e. styrofoam, peanuts,and bubble wrap)
  • Any containers that held hazardous materials (i.e. motor oil, paints, thinners, or household chemicals)
Yard debris is picked up on Wednesdays, along with household recycling. Yard debris includes leaves, weeds, prunings, grass clippings, brush and woody material up to four inches in diameter and four feet in length. 


Yard debris does not include food or vegetable wastes, household or hazardous wastes, animal waste, plastic or plastic bags, construction debris, dirt, sod, rocks, branches over four inches in diameter or four feet in length, or stumps. Please tie branches into reasonably sized bundles. Other material may be put in plastic or paper bags made for the purpose.