Community Partnership | St. Lucie, FL
Foodservice Packaging Materials Accepted
Paper cups*Paper bags
Pizza boxes
Molded fiber carriers/takeout containers
Molded fiber egg cartons
Aluminum foil containers/pans/trays
Plastic cups
Plastic clamshells/containers
Rigid plastic cups
Rigid plastic clamshells/containers
*New items added during partnership
Background
In 2020, St. Lucie County, Florida offered single-stream curbside recycling services to its 234,000 households. For residents without access to curbside recycling, there was the option to drop off recyclables at the St. Lucie County Baling and Recycling Facility. This materials recovery facility (MRF) is owned and operated by St. Lucie County and also serves the recycling needs of neighboring Indian River County and Martin County.
Established in 2014, the County's MRF set its sights on boosting its recycling rate, which initially stood at 39 percent. It transitioned from dual-stream to single-stream recycling, utilizing a comprehensive educational campaign to emphasize the importance of recycling. Additionally, it began capturing landfill gas from decomposing waste, converting it into a usable fuel source. With determination, the County aimed to achieve its recycling rate target of 75 percent by 2020.
Operational and End Market Planning
St. Lucie's Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) boasts a processing capacity of 15 tons of recyclables per hour. The County set its sights on elevating recovery rates by introducing new materials into its recycling operations, specifically paper cups.
Leveraging FPI's track record of successful community partnerships as evidence of paper cup recyclability, and securing approval from St. Lucie's collaborating mills, the County began including paper cups in its mixed paper bales. The MRF then sold this high-quality fiber to mills in the southeastern region, where it is processed into new recycled-content products.
Outreach & Education
With the support of a communications grant from FPI, St. Lucie County initiated an educational campaign aimed at informing residents about the additions to the recycling program and highlighting the full suite of foodservice items that were now accepted curbside. FPI's grant funded various educational components including a recycling education video, the creation of an updated recycling flyer, engaging social media outreach, and the implementation of a residential recycling survey, complete with a prize drawing.
Results
St. Lucie County became a leader in Florida with its recycling efforts, both by adding paper cups and containers to its program and educating residents on proper recycling. The outreach campaign generated 742 recycling survey respondents as well as 70K impressions and 3K clicks on Facebook ads.
Post-campaign MRF audit results are pending and will be updated when complete.
Next Steps
St. Lucie County has remained committed to its waste diversion endeavors by implementing programs for hard-to-recycle items. These initiatives include recycling polystyrene at the Solid Waste Facility and managing plastic bags and wrap through the County's Wrap Recycling Action Program.
November 2022
More Case Studies
The Mid-America Regional Council Solid Waste Management District (MARC SWMD), the regional solid waste planning agency serving local governments across the Kansas City metropolitan region, and FPI collaborated to add paper and plastic cups as accepted materials for recycling and reinforce recycling other already accepted takeout packaging.
First Star Recycling and FPI collaborated to add paper cups as accepted materials for recycling and reinforce recycling other already accepted takeout packaging.
C&S Waste Solutions and FPI collaborated to add hot and cold beverage cups as accepted materials for recycling and reinforce simple recycling best practices.
Grand Traverse County, MI, residents can reduce waste by recycling their clean, empty paper cups and pizza boxes in curbside recycling carts and at local drop-off centers.
Over 500,000 households in the Hampton Roads region of Virgina, can now recycle hot and cold paper cups as part of their recycling program.
Chicago’s Department of Streets and Sanitation is asking residents to recycle their clean and empty paper cups and other takeout containers.
FPI awarded Groot a communications grant to inform residents about newly added recyclable materials, emphasizing the inclusion of paper cups, and reiterating the importance of ensuring all recyclables are clean and empty before placing in recycling carts.
Following the installation of the robotic sorter, the City of Madison, Pellitteri, and FPI collaborated on a focused educational campaign aimed at informing residents and customers about the recent modifications to the recycling program.
ACC's longstanding partner mills readily accepted bales containing paper cups. FPI facilitated discussions between RMPF and the mills, and ACC broadened its list of acceptable items to include paper cups and paper take-out containers.
Leveraging FPI's track record of successful community partnerships as evidence of paper cup recyclability, and securing approval from St. Lucie's collaborating mills, the County began including paper cups in its mixed paper bales.
The County’s strong commitment to sustainability made it an ideal candidate to expand its recycling program to incorporate a range of foodservice items, like cups and containers, through an FPI Community Partnership.
Clark County began incorporating paper cups, along with a variety of other paper foodservice items, into its mixed paper bales. The MRF subsequently sold this high-quality fiber to local paper mills in the region, where it could be reprocessed into new products.
Following the FPI’s market-based approach, the parties communicated regarding the proposed change in Sioux Falls' recycling program to ensure alignment between Millennium Recycling and its partner mill, WestRock in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Sustana committed to providing an off-take agreement for a combined paper cup/carton bale produced at the Alpine MRF in Denver. Following this change, the city of Denver carried out a targeted educational campaign to notify residents.
More households in Chicago and the surrounding area can now recycle paper cups along with other take-out containers.
More than 182,000 households in the Memphis area are now able to recycle paper cups alongside already accepted foodservice packaging.
FCC Environmental Services has installed new robotic sorting technology at its MRF enabling greater Dallas area residents to recycle paper cups, and improved recycling of food and beverage cartons.
Eight municipalities in the Tulsa metropolitan area with over 252,000 households can recycle hot and cold paper cups.
FPI is working closely with local material recovery facilities (MRFs) and paper mills in North and South Carolina to add paper cups as an acceptable commodity for residential curbside recycling.
