Empty tote recycling in Loudoun County, Virginia

A county built around data centers

Loudoun County counts about 233 existing data center buildings, together about 56.5 million square feet. Building permits for more than 10 million square feet of data center space were issued in 2025, the county’s highest one-year total. In 2025 the county also ended by-right data center development, so new ones need a special exception.

Cooling is the part that matters for totes. A chiller or cooling-tower plant is dosed with corrosion inhibitor, biocide and glycol-based fluids, and the distributors that supply data centers list totes among their packaged options. Brenntag says it delivers fluids to North American data centers in bulk or packaged options including drums and totes, and Univar Solutions lists totes among its offerings.

The cooling plant story is told in full on the data-center cooling page.

How the 2025 decision affects empties

Ending by-right development slows how fast new buildings arrive but does nothing to the 233 that already run chillers. Those plants keep dosing, and the totes keep emptying. The permits issued in 2025 will come online over the next years and add to the stream. The empties come from operating plants, not from permits, and we do not forecast tote volumes or count any operator’s totes.

Airlines, caterers and fulfillment

Virginia Works lists the county’s 50 largest employers for the third quarter of 2025. Among them are United Airlines, Gate Gourmet, Swissport, Cuisine Solutions and Amazon Fulfillment Services. Airport work uses de-icing fluids, cleaners and lubricants; airline catering and food manufacturing use ingredients and sanitizers; fulfillment centers use floor-care and maintenance chemicals.

Food manufacturing and catering totes usually held ingredients, which is a different story from a chiller plant’s. Reading the last contents explains why the first question on any request is what the tote held.

Agency and rule

Virginia DEQ runs the Commonwealth’s hazardous waste program, with separate pages for large quantity generators, episodic generation and consolidation by very small quantity generators. Whatever the generator category, a tote over 119 gallons is empty under 40 CFR 261.7 only at one inch of residue or 0.3% of capacity by weight, and an acute hazardous waste tote only after triple rinsing.

Check with your hauler and DEQ before a tote ships. The RCRA empty guide has the figures for both sizes.

How the county decided about new data centers

Loudoun ended by-right data center development in 2025, which means a new data center now needs a special exception. For the tote trade the effect is slow, not sudden: the 233 existing buildings still run their cooling plants, and the buildings permitted in 2025 will come online over the next years. The empties come from the operating plants, not from the permits.

We do not forecast tote volumes and we do not count any operator’s totes.

Why the airport shows up

United Airlines, Gate Gourmet and Swissport are among the county’s 50 largest employers, and their work is airline and airport services and airline catering. Airport work uses fluids and cleaners, and catering uses food ingredients. A caterer’s ingredient totes have a food history and a different future from a ground-services tote.

Scale of the building stock

At 56.5 million square feet in about 233 buildings, the average Loudoun data center building is around 240,000 square feet. A building that size has a cooling plant, and the plant has a chemical program. That is the reason the county is on this site, though it is not a count of totes.

Ways to describe a Loudoun site

Name the road, the building and the nearest cross street. Many Loudoun business parks have similar names and shared ZIP codes, so the address alone may not be enough to find the right dock.

Permits and the pace of building

More than 10 million square feet of data center space was permitted in 2025, and each new building brings a chiller plant. The county ended by-right development that year, so each new application now goes through a special exception. The flow of totes follows the buildings that are operating, not the ones that are approved.

Operators and contractors

A data center is often run by one company and serviced by another. Say whether the totes belong to the operator or to a water-treatment contractor, since that decides who can release them and whose paperwork applies.

Places in the county and the request

Three towns have their own pages: Ashburn for data centers, Sterling for airport services and industrial space, and Leesburg for the county seat’s device makers and aviation shops. Sites in Ashburn and Sterling share the 20166 postal code with Dulles Town Center, so a street address matters more than the code.

Cities under Loudoun County, VA

• Ashburn, VAAshburn is Loudoun County’s data center town. See what its chiller-plant totes held and why the first question is the last contents. No pickup is confirmed.
• Sterling, VASterling in Loudoun County has airport services and industrial space. Read how its totes are graded and why no pickup is promised here yet.
• Leesburg, VALeesburg has medical device makers, aviation and wholesale clubs. See how their totes are graded and why no pickup is promised in Loudoun yet.