Section 403.7032(3), Florida Statutes: "Each state agency, K-12 public school, public institution of higher learning, community college, and state university, including all buildings that are occupied by municipal, county, or state employees and entities occupying buildings managed by the Department of Management Services, must at a minimum, annually report all recycled materials to the county using the department’s [DEP's] designated reporting format."

This statute requires reporting, whether or not you are recycling. Even if a public sector entity is not recycling that entity must report a zero percent recycling rate.

Rulemaking for this statute is currently in process. We anticipate finalizing the designated reporting format in the very near future.

DRAFT Reporting Form – use this draft of the reporting form to get an idea of the information you’ll need to report.

http://www.dep.state.fl.us/waste/quick_topics/publications/shw/solid_waste/Rulemaking_62-716/62-716.900(5)_Public_Recycling_Report_Form_28Jun12.pdf

We are planning to create an online version of the designated reporting format for ease of use. This online version is currently under development.

FAQ

• State agencies
• K-12 public schools
• Public institution of higher learning
• Community college
• State university
• Any and all buildings that are occupied by municipal, county or state employees
• Any and all entities, public or private, that occupy a building managed by the Department of Management Services

It is required that the above listed entities report, to the county in which they are located, all recycled materials. This reporting must be done using the designated reporting format, which should be finalized in the near future.

DEP’s recycling section is handling the reports and plans to have all reporting done online to accommodate the transfer of the information directly to the counties.

Once the designated reporting format has been finalized, the next calendar year will be the first year reporting is required. It is likely that this will be 2013.

Because the Legislature enacted a statute requiring reporting.

Once the DEP designated reporting format is approved and online, you’ll be able to report.

EXAMPLES

Easy Method

I. Amount of Municipal Solid Waste Recycled (tons/year): _________________
To estimate this amount, the following methodology may be used (but is not required).
A. Number of recycling dumpsters for facility = _________________
B. Size of the recycling dumpsters (in cubic yards, which can be obtained from the recyclables hauler) = _________________
C. Frequency (per week) that the recycling dumpsters are emptied = _________________
D. Multiply Item A by Item B by Item C by 52 weeks per year by 225 pounds of municipal solid waste per cubic yard divided by 2000 pounds per ton. Put that number on Line I.

Note: Per Section 403.706(5) F.S., Municipal Solid Waste includes only: Construction & Demolition Debris, Yard Waste, Metals, White Goods, Tires, Food Wastes, Textiles, Glass, Aluminum Cans, Steel Cans, Plastic Bottles, Other Plastics, Newspapers, Corrugated Paper, Office Paper, and Other Paper. Municipal Solid Waste does not include agricultural waste, industrial waste, mining waste or sludge.

II. Amount of Municipal Solid Waste Disposed (tons/year): _________________
To estimate this amount, the following methodology may be used (but is not required).
A. Number of garbage dumpsters for facility = _________________
B. Size of the garbage dumpsters (in cubic yards, which can be obtained from the waste hauler) = _________________
C. Frequency (per week) that the garbage dumpsters are emptied = _________________
D. Multiply Item A by Item B by Item C by 52 weeks per year by 225 pounds of municipal solid waste per cubic yard divided by 2000 pounds per ton. Put that number on Line II.

Recycling Rate (%): _________________ Line I divided by (Line I plus Line II) multiplied by 100

Multiple Offices/Buildings sharing recycling and waste containers

1. Determine who owns your building. _________________
2. If your building is privately owned, contact the owner or rental management company to determine who your waste hauler is.
3. If DMS owns your building, contact the DMS building manager to determine who your waste hauler is.
4. If your agency owns your building, contact the building manager to determine who your waste hauler is.
5. Contact the waste hauler and ask for the following information:
   How large are the recycling and waste containers that service this building?
   How often are the containers emptied (pulled)?
6. For the recycling and waste containers, separately multiply the number of containers by the size of the containers by the number of pulls per year by 225 pounds of MSW per cubic yard and then divide the total by 2000 pounds per ton. This is your recycling and waste tonnages.
7. Multiply tonnage by percent of total personnel (see below for in-depth explanation) to get tonnage applied to your office or building for both recycling and waste.
8. To get the recycling rate: Divide the recycling tonnage by (recycling tonnage plus waste tonnage) then multiply the total by 100.

Shared Building/Complex

If your building is within a complex or the containers that service your building also service other buildings you will want to determine a methodology to assign a portion of the waste and recycling to your building.

To do this, use a per capita basis. Example: There are three buildings that share one recycling container. Building one has 500 people, building two has 300 people and building three has 200 people. Using a per capita basis you would assign 50% of the recycling to building one, 30% to building two and the remaining 20% to building three.