The Solid Waste Management Department manages the Collier County landfill, four recycling centers, and provides recycling/reuse education and outreach.
Our goal as a department is to keep solid waste disposal costs low while preserving landfill space.
Important information on recycling for single family homes, multifamily communities (condominiums and apartment complexes), and businesses is available here. We encourage everyone to explore this Web site to learn more about our solid waste management strategy.
Our staff is willing and able to help you to enhance your recycling efforts, whether you are a homeowner, business owner, apartment/condo dweller, or school/government office.
Recycling is Mandatory for Businesses Located in Collier County!
On July 27, 2004 the Collier County Board of County Commissioners approved the non-residential recycling ordinance 2004-50.
Ordinance 2004-50 promotes recycling by requiring businesses and institutions to segregate and recycle as many designated recyclable materials as practical. For more information on the Non-Residential Recycling visit our Business Recycling pages.
Interesting Recycling Facts:
· Hotels will create about 1.5 pounds of solid waste per day per room
· 1 ton of solid waste is equal to 3.5 cubic yards of solid waste
· Each person produces about 3.5 pounds of solid waste per day
· There are 6 two liter bottles in one pound of PET (polyethylene terephthalate, a plastic resin and a form of polyester)
· One three foot stack of newspapers is equal to one tree, approximately 30 feet tall
· One three foot stack of newspaper weighs 100 pounds
· To make one ton of virgin paper uses 17 trees (3 2/3 acres of forest)
· 62,860 trees must be cut to provide pulp for a single edition of the Sunday New York Times.
· Recycling one aluminum can saves the energy equivalent to one cup of gasoline.
· A steel mill can reduce its water pollution 76% and mining wastes 97% using scrap metal, such as steel cans, instead of iron ore.
· In the fall, leaves comprise as much as half of all waste generated by residents.
· One dollar out of every $11 spent on groceries goes to pay for packaging
· 32% of all municipal waste is from packaging.
· Americans are the world’s trashiest people. US citizens consume more goods per capita than any other nation in the world.
Each Year We Throw Away:
· Enough aluminum to rebuild the entire American Airlines air fleet 71 times.
· Enough steel to reconstruct Manhattan
· Enough wood and paper to heat 5 million homes for 200 years.
· One third of all of the food we buy