FORT MYERS, Fla. — The Super Bowl may be over but the clean-up is just starting for some families. Lee, Charlotte, and Collier Counties are trying to tackle what you’re throwing away in a new campaign. The counties are mainly focused on making sure plastic bags don’t end up in the recycle bin.
"They gum up the machinery and they wind themselves around shafts," said Director of Solid Waste Doug Whitehead. " It requires a lot of maintenance to remove them.”
This is why the counties want you to think twice before you toss everything into your recycling bin. Whitehead added you can find other ways to reuse the plastic bags or drop them off somewhere that can recycle them properly.
"You can take them to your grocery store or your department store, and you can put them in stuff boxes which are usually located at the front."
While it’s important to remember this as you clean up following the big weekend, county leaders said you should make this a habit all year round.
"Not only should plastic not be in your recyclables, but it shouldn’t be in your yard waste because we take your yard waste and we grind it.”
The county takes your yard waste and grinds it down into mulch. People who live in the county can then pick up the mulch completely free. There are five locations in Lee County alone which Beverley Kobie said she has used dozens of times.
“I’m planting some blueberry bushes around my house," explained Kobie.
The county said people like Beverly help preserve the environment and cut down on space in landfills when they utilize this program.
“The county approves it, you can use as much as you want, and it’s organic. It doesn’t make sense to go buy much when you get it for free," said Kobie.
Click here for a list of free mulch sites and recycling instructions within Lee County.
