3 Florida counties honored as recycling leaders

The recycling programs of Collier Country, Indian River County and Lee County, Florida, have been awarded 2022 Recycle Florida Today Environmental Sustainability Awards for their program.

The Ocala, Florida-based Recycle Florida Today (RFT) organization says the three counties demonstrated noticeable efforts to increase recycling. “The programs displayed an increased awareness of the importance of sustainability and ability to motivate others to maximize their recycling, composting, grass-roots efforts, waste reduction, sustainability efforts and improving their recycling rates through education, outreach and by example,” RFT says.

Sue Flak, Recycling Education and Marketing Coordinator for Indian River County, presented the county’s “community fridge” program during a recent webinar and accepted the award.  The purpose of that program is to reduce food waste, build stronger communities, encourage local artists, and promote equal access to healthy food.

The Fellsmere Fridge program, part of that larger effort, is used to share food at the neighborhood level. It is maintained by a collective of partners from drawn from communities, officials, businesses and individuals.

RFT describes itself as Florida’s state recycling organization and “premier association educating recycling and environmental professionals throughout Florida from both the public, private and nonprofit sectors.”