On this Florida Recycles Day, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection launched a statewide “Rethink. Reset. Recycle.” public education campaign designed to educate Floridians about curbside recycling. The department partnered with the Florida Recycling Partnership and companies including Waste Management, MARPAN, Waste Connections, and Single Stream Recyclers, LLC, to develop and fund the program. Recycling coordinators from Hillsborough, Leon and Miami-Dade counties also participated on the development committee.
The campaign serves to remind Floridians of the basics of curbside recycling: clean and dry aluminum and steel cans, plastic bottles and jugs, and paper and cardboard.
About 30 percent of all household materials recycled in Florida are actually not recyclable at curbside, according to estimates by Waste Management, leading to the shutdown of processing centers for hours at a time each day. Contamination costs an average of $125 per ton. By eliminating the 30 percent of contaminated materials in curbside recycling bins, Floridians could save up to $100 million in recycling costs in one year.