Lee County Solid Waste has announced that the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) has named Lee County Florida’s top recycling county for 2021.
The amount of material Lee County residents recycled in 2021 would be enough to fill 168 football fields with material 70 feet high – as high as the highest point on the Sanibel Causeway.
Lee County received credit for recycling 1.6 million tons of the total 2.61 million tons of waste generated locally, according to numbers that FDEP recently released. This brings the county’s recycling rate to 81%.
This is the sixth time Lee County has led the state in recycling since Florida began tracking in 2000. Strong participation by both residents and businesses has enabled Lee County to meet and exceed the state’s 75% recycling goal every year since 2017.
FDEP recycling credits are acquired for items such as curbside recycling by residents as well as business recycling of materials such as cardboard, yard waste, scrap metal and construction and demolition debris.
Lee County also receives recycling credit for energy produced from garbage processed at the Waste-to-Energy plant in Buckingham.
The next Household Chemical Waste Collection FREE drop-off event on Fort Myers Beach is scheduled for Wednesday, August 17, at Bay Oaks Recreational Campus, from 8 a.m. to Noon.