Lee ranks third among Florida counties for recycling rate
Lee County reported that Lee County Solid Waste ranked third among the state’s 67 counties for recycling last year by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP).
The amount of material that residents and businesses recycled in 2024 would be enough to fill 310 football fields 10 feet high.
Lee County received credit for recycling more than 1.9 million tons of the 3 million total tons of waste generated locally, according to numbers that the FDEP recently released. It brings the county’s recycling rate to an adjusted rate of 78%. Strong participation by residents and businesses has enabled the county to meet and exceed the state’s 75% recycling goal.
Lee County earns FDEP recycling credits 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. It also receives recycling credit for energy produced from garbage processed at the Waste-to-Energy plant in Buckingham.
For more information about Solid Waste, visit www.leegov.com/solidwaste.