LEE COUNTY: Thanks to a $8.5-million machine, Lee County residents will no longer have to separate their recyclables.
Wednesday, Waste Pro employee Jen Vincent's job got a lot easier. For the first time in all his years at Waste Pro, he's not spending an extra minute sorting paper from glass, from plastic.
"Yeah, it's a lot better for me," he said. "Just take them and dump them in the truck. That's all."
A new "single stream" recycling system was powered up Wednesday morning at Lee County Waste Management's Buckingham facility.
Multi-million dollar machines will now take over the tedious sorting process. And starting Wednesday, all your household recyclables can be chucked into one bin.
If you're a resident of Lee County just wheel your recyclables out to the curb. There is no need to sort because the county will take care of the rest.
Also, there is no need for special trucks and no need for special bins.
But if you live in Bonita Springs, Fort Myers Beach, Cape Coral or the Iona McGregor district, you'll soon be trading your 18-gallon containers for 65-gallon containers.
"We're just trying to get people excited about recycling again," said Keith Howard of Lee County Waste Management.
Last year, Lee County didn't have equipment to sort the City of Fort Myers' recyclables. Instead, the facility burned more than 1,800 tons of recyclables for a year and citizens were outraged.
The new equipment ensures recyclable burning won't ever happen there again.
"The facility will be able to handle every community in the county. Now, they'll be none we won't be able to process," said Howard.
Lee County residents can also expect to see their garbage fee drop $5 to $25 next year.
http://www.nbc-2.com/Global/story.a...S=12926573