FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:    Lindsey Sampson, Lee County Division of Solid Waste
                (941) 338-3302

OPENING OF NEW RECYCLING PLANT SATURDAY TO INCLUDE PUBLIC TOURS

FORT MYERS, Fla. (February 5, 2002) - Lee County will hold the ribbon cutting of its new, $6.5 million recycling plant Saturday (Feb. 9) and offer free tours to the public from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The 60,000-square-foot Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) is located next to Lee County's Waste-to-Energy Plant, 10550 Buckingham Road just east of Interstate 75 after Buckingham Road branches off from State Road 82 (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard).

The ribbon cutting will be at 2 p.m. Continuous public tours of the MRF and Waste-to-Energy Facility will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. every half-hour. Overflow parking and a shuttle will be provided at the adjacent Buckingham Community Park.

Since the county began its recycling program a little more than a decade ago, it has increased the amount of recyclables it processes from about two tons a day to 150 tons. In 1989, the county's recycling plant was 900 square feet with workers standing at tables, hand-sorting materials. That has grown into the new 60,000-square-foot facility with a semi-automated sorting system that can process up to 400 tons of recyclable material per day.
In 2000, Lee was named the top recycling county in the State of Florida with a recycling rate of 38 percent.

The county currently receives and processes about 150 tons a day from about 150,000 single-family homes, 93,000 multi-family homes and local businesses, meaning the facility will be able to handle future growth as it occurs. This new facility replaces a smaller plant the county leased in North Fort Myers. The larger building and new technology has allowed the county to increase the type and number of materials to be recycled. In January, Lee County added office paper, computer paper and junk mail to residential, multi-family and commercial customers as a recyclable material.

Lee County's Solid Waste Division recently has strategically placed roll-off containers throughout the county for businesses to recycle all their paper products at no cost to them. For more information on Lee County's Solid Waste Program, visit its web site at http://www.lee-county.com/solidwaste/.

Construction of the MRF began in September 2000. The engineer for the project was Malcolm Pirnie and the construction manager was Lodge Construction. The new facility is powered solely by electricity produced by the Waste-to-Energy Facility.

The county disposes of its trash in the Waste-to-Energy Facility, which burns it and generates electricity from a steam driven turbine. The facility burns 395,000 tons of garbage a year and generates up to 34 megawatts of electricity - or enough to power about 30,000 homes.