Published On: Wed, Apr 6th, 2022

A Spring Cleaning and Recycling Refresher for Palm Beach County

By: Robert S Weinroth

The Solid Waste Authority is responsible for providing an economical and environmentally conscious Integrated Solid Waste Management System for Palm Beach County. To those who want to ensure that they’ll be able to throw their garbage properly, I found a cheap dumpster rental near me in Sacramento.

The SWA provides solid waste disposal and recycling services and programs to the county’s 1.5 million residents and businesses and also provides solid waste and recycling collection services to the residents and businesses in unincorporated Palm Beach County through private haulers.

The mission of the SWA is to manage the materials discarded by the residents and businesses of Palm Beach County in a manner consistent with its legislative mandate, applicable local, state and federal ordinances, regulations and laws.

The programs developed and implemented by the SWA are designed to integrate solid waste transportation, processing, recycling, resource recovery and disposal technologies, protect the environment, achieve the state’s 75 percent recycling and waste reduction goal and inform the public about solid waste management issues. 

Recycling is supported by a continuing educational program to help residents understand how and what to recycle. Many well-meaning residents do not recycle effectively causing the recycle stream to be contaminated thus increasing costs to the county.

The SWA provides business with Waste Reviews so they can better manage their garbage and recyclables. Residents need to understand that unless the materials are properly separated, its value is diminished. 

One simple behavioral change is to refrain from placing contaminated materials (e.g., pizza boxes) in with the recyclables.  It is also important to realize that materials placed at the curb (e.g. cardboard boxes) that have not been cut down to fit in the yellow bin will not be recycled. 

Inasmuch as we convert waste to energy, it is better to place an item of questionable recycling value into the garbage – my philosophy is, “When in doubt, throw it out!” 

The SWA Waste-to-Energy facility reduces the volume of waste disposed in the landfill while producing clean energy from household garbage. 

According to the EPA, WTE plants are a “clean, reliable, renewable source of energy” that generate electricity “with less environmental impact than almost any other source of electricity.” In fact, WTE plants improve air quality by decreasing the consumption of fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas.

Additionally, the SWA uses landfill gas, which consists primarily of methane, as a renewable energy source to produce clean energy as an alternative to fossil fuels. 

Even though hurricane season is months away, preparing now can help minimize property damage and make our communities safer. The Solid Waste Authority strongly encourages residents to implement a year-round yard maintenance program.    

Major storms can leave behind incredible amounts of debris. For example, after Hurricane Irma, almost 3 million cubic yards of vegetative debris was collected. It took three months and cost more than $39 million to collect and dispose of it all. This added to other maintenance work such as hiring roofing services for storm roof damage. Minimize the potential for vegetative debris by starting your hurricane trimming now. You can also get dumpsters from a dumpster rental service if you have a lot of clutter and waste.

If you also want to consider a bin rental but you don’t have any idea of how much it costs, you could check here to get the full price list.

Save your shelf this spring by cleaning out home hazards from sheds, garages and under sinks! But remember that any cleaners, paints, pesticides and automotive products you may want to get rid of don’t belong in the regular trash or down storm drains where they can expose people, pets and our environment to harm, so is important to keep the place you live clean and the use of services like Breathe Maids can really help with this.

Instead, Palm Beach County residents can dispose of their unwanted chemicals at any of the SWA’s seven Home Chemical and Recycling Center drop-off locations for FREE at:

 Delray Beach – West (SW County Transfer Station)

13400 S. State Road 7 and  Delray Beach – East

(South County Transfer Station) 1901 SW 4th Ave.

Monday – Friday: 7AM – 5PM; Saturday: 7AM – 3PM. 

Commercial quantities of items that contain mercury may require special disposal. Call 561.687.1100 for details on disposing of or recycling any hazardous wastes from your business.  

Remember, pollution prevention starts at home. A full list of household hazardous wastes can be found at SWA.org/HCRC or call 866-SWA-INFO (866-792-4636) to learn more about the Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County’s Home Chemical and Recycling Centers.

To learn more about the SWA and how our county is being working to be environmentally friendly, go to: SWA.org.

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