Lee County Solid Waste has been named Florida’s top recycling county by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. 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 in 2021, 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.

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.

Please visit www.leegov.com/solidwaste for more information. To receive updates from Lee County Government, sign up for the newsletter here: www.leegov.com/resources/newsletters.

COMMENTS