Pinellas County reports highest recycling rate in Florida

The county submitted its 2015 Solid Waste Report to FDEP in April, who then calculated the recycling rate based on a tradition recycling rate, such as curbside and residential recycling, and recycling credit for renewable energy created by combustion of solid waste, such as waste burned at the Pinellas County Solid Waste’s Waste to Energy facility, the report says. Based on these calculations, Pinellas County’s residential and traditional recycling rate was 52 percent and its recycling credit for renewable energy was 32 percent in 2015.
 

The increased rate is contributed to increased C&D recycling, the report says. In 2012, FDEP changed its methodology to include processed recycled concrete from roads and bridges into its calcuations.
 

This rate contributes to the state’s goal to recycle 75 percent of its waste by 2020. In 2015, Florida’s overall recycling rate was 54 percent with a traditional recycling rate of 42 percent, the report says.
 

The state also allows counties that create renewable energy from waste and maintain a program that recycles at least 50 percent municipal solid waste (MSW) by means other than creating energy to county 1.25 tons of recycled material for each megawatt-hour produced. This allowed the county to receive additional credits for recycling at least 50 percent of its waste by means other than renewable energy.