Lee County Commissioners have a long history of creating and supporting policies that provide an economical, sustainable method for handling the waste stream - resulting in an award-winning system. Some of the Solid Waste Department's recent awards and recognitions are listed below.
| 2014 | Solid Waste Association of North America Bronze Award for Excellence in Composting |
| 2014 | Florida Water Environment Association’s Biosolid Award. Program Excellence for large composting facility |
| 2012 | Urban Land Institute Impact Award for OrganicLee® Compost (ULI Annual Sustainability Symposium) |
| 2011 | Solid Waste Association of North America Gold Award for best in the Nation for achieving the highest level of excellence for its solid waste management system. |
| 2010 | Columbia University Earth Engineering Center in jointly with the U.S. Energy Recovery Council and Waste To Energy Research and Technology Council awarded Lee County Solid Waste Division the Sustainable Waste Management in the US award on October 8, 2010. |
| 2009 | Received 'Recycle Florida Today's' award for the Lee County Mandatory Business Recycling Program in the category of Outstanding Urban County or City Program. |
| 2009 | Received Project of the Year Award in the category Structures/Environment from the Florida Chapter of the American Public Works Association for the Resource Recovery Facility Expansion Project. |
| 2008 | Received Project of the Year Award (Renewable Energy Category) from' Power Gen Magazine', a globally recognized trade magazine of the electric utility industry. |