EUSTIS, Fla. – Eustis leaders are ready to trash the city’s recycling program, but this change could be better for the environment.
On Tuesday night, the commissioners will vote to adjust its current waste services contract with Waste Management. This new agreement will be for five years, according to city documents.
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If approved the two biggest changes will be:
- Residents will no longer need to separate recyclables from trash
- All waste will now go to the Reworld Waste-to-Energy Plant
This would not be the first city in Central Florida to do this, as Wildwood, Mount Dora, Dunnellon, Fruitland Park, and Lady Lake also send waste to this plant in Lake County.
One issue this plant addresses is having recyclable items end up in a landfill, Government Affairs Manager for Waste Management, Jose Boscan told Eustis leaders during a meeting in December.
“In most recycling programs there is contamination and that is an average anywhere between 25 to 35% — of everything that is put in a recycling container that 35% is then landfilled," Boscan said. “You do not have this problem with waste-to-energy.”
In Winter Garden, this problem of contamination was one of the reasons the city voted to end its recycling program last month. (Need help understanding what items are recyclable and what aren’t? We have a story explaining it HERE on ClickOrlando.com.)
According to its website, Reworld transforms waste into energy by burning it. The steam from the burnt waste turns a turbine which creates electricity.
The company claims the Lake County plant produced enough energy in 2023 to power 8,000 homes for a year, according to its annual impact report.
To learn more about Reworld and how it is different from a landfill click here.
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