Special To Legacy
In Broward County, we build legacies through our actions. When you invest in your home or open a business to carry on your family name, you are building your legacy. Through school, work, church, and community events, you plant roots in your neighborhoods where your children and grandchildren will thrive.
But there is a quiet waste crisis building alongside everything you’ve created. Shockingly, we are generating an incredible amount of waste in Broward County; 20,000 pounds per minute! When you place your garbage at your curb, it doesn’t just disappear. Most of it ends up at a landfill or a waste-to-energy facility. Both are nearly maxed out, and it must go somewhere.
As our population continues to grow, so will the amount of waste we generate. We owe it to ourselves, our kids, and our grandkids to change our behavior and protect the very legacies we all work so hard to create.
That’s why, for the first time in Broward County’s history, 28 cities and Broward County have joined forces to develop a 40-year Master Plan to responsibly manage our waste after it leaves our curbs. If we all participate and do our part, we can decrease our dependence on landfilling and waste-to-energy.
Next time you go to toss something in the garbage, think twice. Try to reuse or repurpose as many items as possible. Recycle right by placing aluminum cans, plastic bottles, flattened cardboard, and paper in your recycling cart. When you mistakenly place items like plastic grocery bags, cords, food, Styrofoam, or diapers in your recycling cart, it can send a whole truckload of recycling to the landfill instead of the recycling center. Our current recycling rate in Broward County is just 38%, far short of the state’s 75% goal. We must do better.
Visit BrowardRecycles.org to take the pledge to waste less and recycle right (and tell your friends to do the same). On the website, you will also find helpful tips on how to recycle correctly and where you can donate clothes, toys, and household items.
The choices you make today, what you throw away, what you recycle, and how you care for our community will help define the legacy you leave behind. Let’s make it one we can all be proud of.
