Is Your Recycling Being Burned? Say It Isn’t So!
Please recycle.
Each day, most citizens of Lee County Florida take the extra necessary steps to separate their recyclables. Paper, plastics, aluminum, steel, and glass. We also have a large amount of lawn and garden waste because we mow and water all year long. It can take up a bit of your time to make sure you clean, separate, and dispose of all of the recyclables according to our recycling rules.
Imagine our horror on April 6, 2010 when we learned all of our efforts to recycle were almost for nothing!
In a Local TV Fox 4 News Report by reporter, Pooja Lodhia , she interviewed the City of Fort Myers Mayor, Randy Henderson. She asks, “The recycled materials are actually being burned. Did you know about that?”
The Mayor responded, “I wouldn’t have anything. I haven’t heard anything.” Please watch the following video and tell me how the city could not have known!
Lee County Burning Recyclables.
Of course, our county government didn’t look upon the burning of the recyclables as being a negative thing; if it wasn’t negative, why when the story broke did they pretend to not know it was happening?
According to our county government website:
- Garbage is burned which reduces the volume of the garbage while producing electricity. The garbage when burned is reduced to an inert ash residue, which is transported to the landfill. All metal is removed prior to disposal at the landfill.
- The ash takes up 90% less room by volume in the landfill than the unburned garbage would, which greatly extends the life of the landfill.
If the waste/recyclables were being burned, why wouldn’t this have been a public announcement? — Why collect and haul away the “recyclables” if they were just going to be incinerated??? Why were the citizens of Fort Myers still told they were recyclables if they were not truly being “recycled”? As usual, it all came down to money.
UPDATE: Six days after this story broke and citizens were in an uproar about being deceived by having their recyclables incinerated at the Lee County Waste-to-Energy facility, the City of Fort Myers made some appropriate changes. Now, at a cost, the city is shipping the recycling to Pembroke Pines Recycling Center to be appropriately recycled!
If you see that something isn’t right in the community where you live, you HAVE to speak up. Take a stand! Make a difference!
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I hope you enjoyed my post about taking a public pledge to save the environment, to recycle properly, and to notify those that can make appropriate changes within our government to make those changes; they are important for your future and future generations! Feel free to add yourself by joining my Google Friends or as a recent Twitter Visitor! If you did enjoy it, please — leave me a comment below! I truly appreciate the feedback I receive so I can improve my skills and deliver valuable content for my readers to enjoy! Just click the “share” button below to share my post with your friends and followers. If you have time, rate my blog on Alexa! Just click the banner in the sidebar!
Let’s create a healthy green environment.
To your prosperity and online success,
Wow this is a great resource.. I’m enjoying it.. good article
Thank you very much! I wish you the best… to your online success.
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That mean alot to me! A recommendation from a family member has a lot of value. Thank you for sharing that with me.
wow Deborah I can’t believe they where doing that, so dishonest, Your right we have to speak up to make a difference thats the only way things will change.
Yes, Cheryl, we couldn’t believe it either! We have to really be aware of what is going on in our own communities! It starts at home. Thanks, Cheryl!