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The Florida Department of Environmental
Protection (DEP) has announced almost $3 million in grant funding
for 19 innovative recycling and waste reduction projects in 15
communities. Florida's "green" budget, signed earlier this year by
Governor 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," said 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.
In addition, just weeks ago DEP
announced that the state is now accepting grant proposals for
another program, the Renewable Energy Technologies Grant Program.
Part of the 2006 Florida Energy Act, DEP's Florida Energy Office
administers the grant program, which is designed to stimulate
capital investment in Florida and promote and enhance the statewide
utilization of renewable energy technologies.
The 19 recycling and waste reduction
projects include:
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
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