County earns top recycling spot in Florida

FORT MYERS — Lee County has earned the top recycling spot in Florida for 2019. 

This is the fifth time the county has led the state in recycling since Florida began tracking in 2000, according to a press release.

The amount of material Lee County residents recycled in 2019 would be enough to fill 138 football fields with material 70 feet high — as high as the Sanibel Causeway Bridge, the release says. 

Lee County received credit for recycling 1.8 million tons of the total 2.27 million tons of waste generated locally in 2019, according to numbers recently released by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. That brings the county’s recycling rate to 80%.

“Lee County is one of only three counties that met Florida’s recycling goal of 75% by 2020,” says Solid Waste Director Doug Whitehead in the statement. “Strong participation by both residents and businesses has enabled Lee County to meet and exceed the state’s recycling goal.”

Recycling credits include curbside recycling by residents as well as business recycling of materials such as cardboard, yard waste, scrap metal and construction and demolition debris, among other items. Lee County also receives recycling credit for energy produced from garbage processed at the waste-to-energy plant in Buckingham.