Municipal Solid Waste Processed by Recycling, Landfill, and Waste-to-Energy Facilities

Explanation of Indicator
There are three major methods utilized to manage municipal solid waste (MSW) in the state: landfilling, waste-to-energy (WTE), and waste reduction/recycling. As of January 1995, the state had 105 landfills, 74 of which are lined Class 1 landfills which receive at least 20 tons per day of solid waste. The state’s current waste-to-energy plant capacity is 18,156 tons per day, making Florida the state with the most WTE capacity in the nation. Waste reduction/recycling includes the 38 composting facilities operating in 23 counties throughout the state. The number of recycling facilities is unknown since a state permit is not required. This indicator displays a compilation of the amount of waste processed by these Florida facilities, in coastal and non-coastal counties and for the state as a whole.

Data Characteristics
SOURCE
This information can be obtained from the Solid Waste Management Annual Report to the legislature. The data are collected and compiled by Peter Goren, Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Waste Reduction Section. Peter Goren can be contacted at 2600 Blair Stone Road, Mail Station 4570, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-2400, or at (904) 488-0300.

ACQUISITION
The data are available in hard copy format at no cost.

COLLECTION
This information is collected annually, statewide by county.

Data Limitations
These data are limited by the certainty of the figures for recycling facilities. Recycling facilities are not required to obtain a state permit and these data are not collected by DEP; the information on recycling is collected by cities and counties who received grants to develop recycling facilities. Thus, the information displayed here regarding recycling may not be consistent.

Data Analysis
From 1990 to 1994 there was a decrease in the amount of waste placed in Florida’s landfills, while the amount of waste processed by recycling and waste-to-energy facilities increased. In 1990 and 1991 landfills processed a larger proportion of waste in coastal counties than the recycling and waste-to-energy facilities combined. In 1994 2.2 percent more of the coastal counties’ total waste was processed by recycling facilities than by landfills. In coastal counties the amount of waste processed by waste-to-energy plants has been slowly increasing since 1990. By 1994 almost 30 percent of the waste generated in coastal counties was processed by waste-to-energy plants.

The processing of MSW in non-coastal counties has followed a trend similar to that of the coastal counties. However, landfills still remain the dominant form of waste disposal in non-coastal counties, with over half of the waste going to landfills, although the amount of waste recycled in non-coastal counties has more than tripled. Waste-to-energy facilities have been less popular in non-coastal counties which processed less than 4 percent of their waste between 1990 and 1994.

Year/Process	Landfill	Recycling	Waste-to-Energy

				   1990
Coastal		10,048,395 (64.6)	2,382,690 (15.3)	3,120,655 (20.1)
Non-Coastal	 3,354,605 (88.1)	  444,310 (11.7)	   7,345   (0.2)
State (Total)	13,403,000 (69.2)	2,827,000 (14.6)	3,128,000 (16.2)

				   1991
Coastal		 8,924,729 (57.1)	3,513,600 (22.5)	3,197,984 (20.5)
Non-Coastal	 3,162,177 (82.2)	  545,700 (14.2)	 139,493   (3.6)
State (Total)	12,086,906 (62.0)	4,059,300 (20.8)	3,337,477 (17.1)

				   1992
Coastal		 7,359,803 (44.9)	4,672,884 (28.5)	4,367,973 (26.6)
Non-Coastal	 3,009,365 (77.3)	  743,214 (19.1)	 139,820   (3.6)
State (Total)	10,369,168 (51.1)	5,416,098 (26.7)	4,507,793 (22.2)

				   1993
Coastal		7,070,293 (40.6)	5,540,478 (31.8)	4,801,943 (27.6)
Non-Coastal	2,833,938 (69.4)	1,104,078 (27.0)	 148,340   (3.6)
State (Total)	9,904,231 (46.1)	6,644,556 (30.9)	4,950,283 (23.0)

				   1994
Coastal		6,633,693 (35.3)	7,031,892 (37.5)	5,103,806 (27.2)
Non-Coastal	3,028,157 (63.2)	1,575,905 (32.9)	 187,480   (3.9)
State (Total)	9,661,850 (41.0)	8,607,797 (36.5)	5,291,286 (22.5)
Numbers in parentheses represent what percentage of the total waste is processed in that manner.