Feb 8 - FL - Florida Questions Garbage-Burning as Recycling

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Under existing law, counties could burn garbage for electricity and count it towards meeting the Sunshine State's 75-percent recycling rate goal by 2020.

As reported by Resources Recycling, recently introduced  HB 503 would drop the amount of trash burned for electricity that could be counted as recycling. Under the new rules, the most that could be credited would be 71 percent.

According to a 2010 report from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, there are 8 counties that have recycling rates above 100 percent when using the garbage-burning credit.

"We're trying to avoid burning municipal solid waste," Sierra Club lobbyist David Cullen told the Florida politics website The Current. "And we are trying to promote the development of businesses that use recycled materials."

C4R supports this bill because garbage-burning is not recycling, and HB 503 will provide incentive for counties to look for and expand recycling opportunities.