Last week's program was provided by Rotarian Sophia Hyde. Sophia’s guest speakers were Michael Davis and Jill Sessions with the City of Plant City Recycling Program.
Did you know Hillsborough County recycles nearly 562,000 tons of garbage into energy annually? That’s enough recycled energy to power almost all the homes in Valrico for an entire year. Material Recovery Facilities (MRF) automation have eliminated the need for sorting materials at the curb. MRF’s are unable to process some recyclable material. The market demand for recycled content declined during the Great Recession and changes in regulation by China/Asia. Recycling is good for the environment, reduces operation costs, creates jobs, conserves natural resources, saves energy and reduces pollution. A 75% recycling mandated by the State helps residents and businesses divert over 10,000 tons of material from the landfill.
The City of Plant City is currently working to automate collection with the approval of City Commission. Collection vehicles will be equipped with a robotic arm that allows driver to empty containers without leaving the vehicle. This will allow for a significant increase in the amount of recyclables collected. These are the items you should recycle: clean plastic bottles and containers, clean aluminum cans, food trays, clean steel and tin cans, clean glass bottles and jars, dry paper, newspaper and junk mail, dry cardboard and paperboard…DO flatten, cut down or fold cardboard boxes to fit in the bin.
Things that should NOT be recycled include: plastic bags, film or tarps, soiled or wet paper/cardboard, food waste, food or candy wrappers, electronics, light bulbs, batteries, syringes or needles, cord/wires, clothes hangers, large plastic items such as pools, coolers or toys, rope/twine/straps or bungi cords, garden or pool hoses, rubber items, yard waste, windows/mirrors. If you are in doubt as to what can be recycled…leave it out!
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