Legislation & Regulations, Municipal

Florida Legislature passes recycling contamination bill

The Florida Legislature has passed House Bill (HB) 73, which specifies how residents’ contaminated recyclables will be managed in recycling contracts between municipalities and haulers or material recovery facilities (MRFs). Under the bill, haulers would not be required to collect or transport contaminated materials, and MRFs would not be required to process contaminated materials.

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The bill would require each contract to include:

• strategies and obligations of the county or municipality and the residential recycling collector to reduce the amount of contaminated recyclables being collected;
• procedures for identifying, documenting, managing and rejecting residential recycling containers, truckloads, carts or bins that contain contaminated recyclables;
• remedies authorized to be used if a container, cart or bin contains contaminated recyclables;
• education and enforcement measures that will be used to reduce the amount of contaminated recyclables; and
• a definition of the term “contaminated recyclable material” for the local community.

HB 73 has been sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office for signature. As of mid-March, DeSantis had not yet signed the bill. If he does sign it, the new requirements will take effect in October and will affect all new or renewed municipal recycling contracts in the state.