Florida DEP Awards Recycling Grants

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has announced almost $3 million in grant funding for 19 recycling and waste reduction projects in 15 communities.

Florida’s “green” budget, signed earlier this year by Gov. Charlie Crist, set aside funds to demonstrate new recycling technologies that effectively reduce municipal solid waste.

“Recycling is the cornerstone of waste reduction, and by working together state and local governments are discovering innovative ideas to conserve natural resources,” says DEP Deputy Secretary Mimi Drew. “We are proud to be a leader in funding ground-breaking technology that will reduce waste and sustain Florida’s environment.”

In 1997, the Florida Legislature directed DEP to develop a grant program available to counties on a competitive basis for innovative programs related to recycling. Each year, DEP solicits grant proposals from cities, counties and nonprofit organizations, which are ranked based on innovative use of technology or processes, cost-effectiveness, transferability, sustainability and community support.

Governor Crist and the Florida Legislature this year approved funding for 19 recycling and waste reduction projects:

• Recycling Waste Vegetable Oil Using Renewable Energy, Lee County – Lee County will install and operate a plant to recycle waste vegetable oil into biodiesel fuel at a local landfill utilizing landfill gas as an energy source.
• Building Blocks to Increase Construction and Demolition Debris Recovery Through Program Incentives, Sarasota County – Sarasota County will investigate and implement incentives to increase recycling of construction and demolition debris.
• Promoting Enhanced Resource Recovery of Hurricane Debris, Polk County – Polk County will evaluate the possibility of recycling hurricane debris by examining the technical, regulatory and economic feasibility of using a commercial product marketed for storage of animal feed-stock and for composting organic wastes as a temporary storage of processed woody debris.
• Beneficial Use of Asphalt Shingles from Construction and Demolition Debris in Hot Mix Asphalt Plants, Polk County – Polk County will evaluate the recycling of asphalt shingles as a technology for sustainable management of this material focusing on the conditions necessary for future success, and developing a business plan that can be used by hot mix asphalt facilities around the state.
• Market Enhancement for Densified Expanded Polystyrene Waste, Polk County – Building on an earlier densification and recycling pilot project utilizing large quantities of expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam packaging material, the county will purchase a grinder and a pelletizer to further process the densified EPS into pellet form. This will enable the existing recycler to market and sell the resulting product in North America.
• Statewide Expanded Polystyrene Waste Densifying Program, Polk County – Polk County will purchase expanded polystyrene (EPS) densifying equipment and place the new equipment in counties with populations more than 150,000 to enhance the recycler’s supply of waste EPS from other counties.
• Waste Tire Conduits for Enhancing Biostabilization at Landfills, New River Solid Waste Association – This nonprofit organization will evaluate the beneficial use of whole tires as geoconduits for adding liquids to promote biostabilization of waste in landfills.
• Beaches, Boats and Bars: Greening Florida’s Biggest Industries, Ft. Lauderdale – The City of Ft. Lauderdale will implement a sustainable and comprehensive recreational waste reduction program by not only placing receptacles beachside, but also establishing recycling programs in marinas and businesses along the beaches.
• MRFing Our Way to Diversion: Capturing the Commercial Stream, Pinellas County – Pinellas County will partner with Manatee and Hillsborough Counties to conduct a technology evaluation and prepare a feasibility study for a publicly owned regional Recovered Materials Processing Facility and commercial Materials Recovery Facility.
• School Beverage Container Recycling Challenge Program, Collier County – Collier County will establish the first Florida School Beverage Container Recycling Challenge Program to encourage all 50 Collier County schools to increase recycling. Schools will compete to develop recycling music videos, television commercials and recycling posters.
• Seasonal and Year Round Commercial “How To Recycle” Videos, Collier County – The county will develop “How To Recycle” training videos for Florida year-round businesses and seasonal hospitality industry workers.
• The Use of Cathode-Ray Tube Glass in the Manufacturing of Pre-Stress and Pre-Cast Concrete Products, Leon County – Leon County will research the use of Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT) glass in the manufacturing of pre-stress and pre-cast concrete products. Data will be generated documenting potential leachability of lead from waste CRT glass after the glass has been encapsulated in concrete.
• Creation Station Mobile Reuse Center, Pasco County – The County will purchase a new step van to create, in cooperation with the District School Board, Florida’s first Mobile Reuse Center to reach the outlying areas of the county and increase the volume of reuse materials donated to and collected by businesses and individuals.
• Enabling Downtown Commercial Recycling via Single Stream Collection, Orlando – The City of Orlando will develop the processes, education materials, physical collection point locations and drop-off strategies and collection/reporting practices to implement a downtown business recycling program that may be transferable to other Florida downtown urban areas.
• Recycling for An Active Generation, St. Johns County – Targeting major active sports parks, passive nature parks and boat ramps, the County will place signs and receptacles at locations and arrange for proper pick-up and recycling of recyclable materials.
• Landfill Mining and Reclamation, Escambia County – The County will develop and refine techniques and procedures to implement a full-scale mining and reclamation project for a 45-acre trench filled unlined area to recycle materials such as white goods and tires, deposit unrecyclables in an active Class I cell and recycle an old unlined area into a lined landfill area to protect groundwater resources.
• Race To Recycle: Recycling at Outdoor Road Races, Walks, Concerts and Special Events, Tampa – The City of Tampa will conduct research at major events in Tampa to identify opportunities for capturing large amounts of recyclables, conduct waste stream composition studies, develop a marketing plan to encourage recycling at events, purchase portable recycling receptacles and design and produce marketing and educational materials to be included in pre-event packets.
• Greening of Florida: A Solid Waste Management Roadmap, Tallahassee – The City of Tallahassee will develop a strategic plan to maximize waste reduction and recycling statewide by bringing together key stakeholders and solid waste industry leaders to form a task force to review Florida’s accomplishments, define existing obstacles and identify initiatives and funding options to maximize waste reduction in Florida.
• Development of a Pilot Low-Cost Educational Campaign for Recycling Awareness, Brevard County – Brevard County will develop a low-cost educational campaign for recycling awareness through the use of newspaper inserts.

More information is available online at www.dep.state.fl.us.