When Palm Beach County residents recycle right, we celebrate all year long by creating new products from waste and prolonging the life of our landfill by keeping recyclable items out of it. The Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County (SWA) celebrated even more last year by achieving the state’s highest recycling rate for the second year in a row, as calculated by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, at 84 percent.
In the last fiscal year, county residents placed more than 98,000 tons of recyclables in their blue and yellow recycling bins. That’s almost 197 million pounds of recyclable waste that would have otherwise been trashed. By the end of the fiscal year, almost 75,000 tons of recyclables were sold to mills and factories that could use them in making raw materials for new products. The top recycled items in Palm Beach County were:
- Mixed paper: Almost 31,000 tons
- Cardboard: More than 18,000 tons
- Glass: More than 17,000 tons
- Plastics: Almost 7,000 tons
- Aluminum: Almost 1,000 tons
- Cartons (aseptic): More than 45 tons
Since 2010, the SWA has shared the revenues received from the sale of these recyclable commodities with its partner municipalities. The Municipal Revenue Share Program rewards each municipality for the role they play in making Palm Beach County’s dual-stream recycling program successful.
After each city’s recyclables are transported to an SWA facility, sorted, baled and sold, the revenue is shared back with the cities, after processing costs. The revenue received from marketing these recyclables varies due to market conditions and international policy. Since the SWA started the Municipal Revenue Share Program in 2010, partner municipalities have received more than $10.3 million. Each municipality is able to spend their portion of the Municipal Revenue Share as they feel appropriate…