Public Spaces Recycling
No matter where you are in the City of Fort Lauderdale, we want to make it convenient for you to recycle. Look for containers on our beaches, sidewalks, at bus stops, in parks and at marinas.
In 2013, with the assistance of a grant from the Broward County Resource Recovery Board, the City of Fort Lauderdale was able to greatly increase our inventory of public space collection containers, and also to repair or re-furbish old ones. The grant also allowed us to coordinate containers with the look and feel of our individual parks, and to upsize containers in high-volume locations. You’ll now see five different types of containers around town, most of which are made with recycled content materials. Concrete containers adorn sidewalks, bus stops, and our beaches and composite slatted containers are in most parks. Specially designed containers are at dugouts and other sports facilities. Rolling blue carts, similar to those used in our residential program, are available at facilities such as the Aquatic Complex, and as temporary provisioning for events and places awaiting permanent containers. Solar powered compacting containers are available in high-volume locations. These specialized containers actually communicate with our Parks department, letting staff know when they need to be emptied. This reduces the overall number of trips we make with our collection vehicle, resulting in a fuel savings too.
Many of our containers hold both trash and recycling, but in different compartments. Be sure to check that you are throwing your recyclables, and only recyclables, into the specially marked opening for them.
With the exception of our Solar Bellies, public recycling containers are emptied weekly by specially marked City collection vehicles. If you see a container over-flowing, please do call our 24-hour Customer Service at 954-828-8000 to report it, or use our Lauderserve application.
In general, the guidelines for recycling in public spaces are the same as those for your home or workplace. However, it is especially important to think about recycling cleanly when you are out. Food items sitting in the hot Florida sun or in the rain will really stick to those containers. Please remember to empty your drink and separate all food into the garbage bin before placing bottles, cans, and other take-away containers into the recycling. Also remember that polystyrene foam and plastic bags are never recyclable.