I just moved to Tampa and have been visiting areas within 2 hours of the city. Boy, was I surprised to find almost NO recycling anywhere--not where I live, not at the malls or beach.  The only place I can honestly say I've seen some recycling was at Universal's Islands of Adventure park.     I came from up north and lived in Colorado twice and feel I've been trained to recycle almost everything. (And it's the law in many places)

 Is it better in some other counties?   With all I hear about keeping the beaches clean, saving the manatees, etc, I just expected Florida to care a lot more than I've seen evidence of.

I have been living in Miami for two years now and the only place I have found any kind of recycling, besides curbside, is at the local universities.  There is room too for drop bins at the local parks but I guess it would not be cost effective for the city.  Shame.

Alachua County (where the University of Florida is in Gainesville) is a major recycling success. The county has curb pickup for bottles, cans, and glass containers, plus cardboard, pasteboard, paper (junk mail too). You can even place used batteries in the recycle boxes for pickup. The University is also into this. The county estimates that it now picks up 40% of its trash as recycled material. The major collection area north of town received a national award for its recycling design and use.

The Gainesville Regional Utilities offers rebates on energy saving repairs (added insulation, fixing leaks, etc.) as well as rebates for old appliances that are replaced by new energy saving appliances.  For example, every household can earn $50 each for up to two old 10 cubic foot or larger refridgerators. I received $400 for fixing leaks in my cooling/heating duct work.

At the collection center north of town, they take electrical equipment (computers, monitors, CD players, etc.), flourescent lights and more for recycling. You can even drop off old paint, grease, pesticides, fertilizers, etc., and then others can come by and sign them out for their use. Periodically, waste management will hold collection points for these materials in areas throughouth the county.

At the local supermarkets, you can drop off plastic bags, paper bags and foam containers (such as egg containers and meat or produce trays). There are large areas that use recycled water (clean but not acceptable for drinking) for irrigation.

We also have the fastest growing bus system and the largest numbers of riders of any bus system in the state. And we're adding more. All faculty, staff and students at the University of Florida and Santa Fe Community College receive free bus transportationm, as the schools and the student governments provide major funding to support the bus system.

There's talk about contractors driving recyclables to the dump.

Personally, I think a reasonable solution is production of containers that serve short-term purpose and will break down in the environment in 50 years or less.

Yes, it is better in other counties in Florida.  I'm just across the state on the east coast and we have free curbside recycling throughout the county (we have to pay for trash pickup or take it to the dump ourselves, but not recyclables)  Plastics 1-7, paper & cardboard, all glass, all metals.  All Publixes have those bins outside where you can drop off plastic wrappers and bags, and all the ones around here also have plastic and can recycle bins.  The mall has plastic bottle recycle bins (I can't think of what else you'd typically dispose of at the mall).  Recycling is significantly more prominent where I live now than it was in Atlanta.  Many public schools and churches still have aluminum can and newspaper recycling bins as a fundraiser.