New WM Facility Aims to Reduce Contamination, Improve Recycling in Northwest Florida

After voting to end its previous contract, Okaloosa County Commissioners in Florida hope a new WM recycling facility will have a huge impact on recycling rates in the area.

Earlier this week, County Commissioners in Okaloosa voted unanimously to end its contract with Emerald Coast Utilities Authority and begin a new contract with WM to take over recycling in the county. WM broke ground on the $30 million recycling facility last year, promising to process 120,000 tons of single-stream recycling per year.

“We’ve got it broken into a two-phase approach,” said Jason Autrey, Okaloosa County Public Works Director.

“The first is what we’ve dubbed the break-in period. This is a dollar-for-dollar match in terms of the processing fee. Currently, we pay ECUA $60 per ton … the big difference is we no longer have to pay the hauling cost. Currently, we pay about $91 per ton. After we get through the six-month break-in period, we will enter into a blended-value approach where we will actually get a rebate back for selling the recyclable commodity.”

During the three-year contract with WM, the area plans to see a reduction from 25% contamination down to 15%. In the past, Okaloosa has had to halt curbside pickups because contamination rates were peaking around 50%.

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