FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FORT MYERS,
Fla. (October 31, 2002) – More than 100,000 Lee County households will
be receiving door hangers with recycling information over the next three weeks
in an effort to boost the amount of recycled materials.
The door hangers will reach residents in unincorporated Lee
County, the cities of Cape Coral and Bonita Springs, and the Town of Fort Myers
Beach. The garbage hauling
companies working for Lee County and Cape Coral will distribute the information
from Nov. 3 through Nov. 20. The
flyers are in both English and Spanish.
The effort is aimed at encouraging people who do not
recycle to recycle, and reminding those who do recycle about the different kinds
of items that can be recycled.
Solid Waste assessments increased slightly this year not
because of increased rates, but because residents, per household, are generating
more garbage.
Over the last three years, per household waste generation
has increased from 1 tons annually to 1.3 tons – a 30 percent increase.
This trend is particularly disturbing because Lee County’s household
recycling rate has only slightly increased.
Lee County is appealing to citizens to make full use of the
recycling program. A reduction in
the amount of household waste disposed of can only be achieved by keeping
recyclable materials out of your household garbage. This strategy makes sense for taxpayers from a financial
standpoint and also supports our resources and environment.
Paper, aluminum, metal, glass and plastics (#1-7 on the
bottom, including bleach bottles) can be recycled. Within those categories, such things as magazines and
catalogs, flattened corrugated cardboard, all of the newspaper, brown paper
grocery bags, telephone books, computer and office paper, junk mail (including
envelopes), shredded papers, clean pizza boxes (no crusts), soda and beer cans,
clean foil and pie pans, metal food cans, empty aerosol cans, and bottles and
jars (green, clear and brown) can be recycled.
“We want to stress the need to increase cardboard,
magazines and miscellaneous paper (junk mail, etc.) in the recycling stream
because these materials are too often being placed in the garbage,” says
county Solid Waste Director Lindsey Sampson.
REMEMBER,
MORE RECYCLING + LESS GARBAGE = CHEAPER GARBAGE BILLS