When Palm Beach County residents recycle right, we celebrate all year long by creating new products from waste and prolonging the life of our landfill by keeping recyclable items out of it. The Solid 91²Ö¿â Authority of Palm Beach County (SWA) celebrated even more in 2024 by achieving the state’s highest recycling rate for the third year in a row, as calculated by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, at 90 percent (84% in 2023 and 80% in 2022)*. The FDEP’s 2025 statewide recycling rates will be released this spring.
In fiscal year 2025, Palm Beach County residents placed more than 82,000 tons of recyclables in their blue and yellow recycling bins. That’s almost 181 million pounds of recyclable waste that would have otherwise been trashed. The top recycled items in Palm Beach County were:
- Mixed paper: Almost 23,000 tons
- Cardboard: Almost 18,000 tons
- Glass: Almost 15,000 tons
- Plastics: More than 5,700 tons
- Aluminum: More than 850 tons
- Cartons (aseptic): Almost 23 tons
By the end of the fiscal year, more than 62,000 tons of recyclables were sold to mills and factories that could use them in making raw materials for new products.
Since 2010, the SWA has shared the revenues received from the sale of these recyclable commodities with its partner municipalities. The Municipal Recycling Revenue Share Program rewards each municipality for the role they play in making Palm Beach County’s dual-stream recycling program successful.
After the recyclables from each city, town or village are transported to an SWA facility, sorted, baled and sold, the revenue, after processing costs are covered, is shared back with the municipalities. The revenue received from marketing these recyclables varies due to market conditions and international policy.
Since the SWA started the Municipal Revenue Share Program in 2010, partner municipalities have received more than $10.3 million. Municipalities retain local discretion over the use of their allocated recycling revenue.
Unfortunately, there was no revenue share to pass on to partner municipalities this past year, as expenses of processing recyclable materials exceeded revenues. However, the SWA completed a major upgrade to its fiber (paper, cardboard, etc.) processing system that included automated optical sorting equipment to help increase the facility’s material throughput and improve efficiency in sorting the higher-value commodities. Performance results have shown smoother operations, lower contamination levels and increased recovery of recyclables, helping Palm Beach County remain a state leader in recycling. The SWA hopes this upgrade will help to provide recycling revenue to partner municipalities in the coming year.
In addition to traditional recyclables, more than 2,100 tons (4.8 million pounds) of household hazardous wastes item were collected to be safely and responsibly recycled or disposed of in Fiscal Year 2025.