Orange County, Fla., Receives County Government Best Practices Award

Recycling Quality Improvement Program Honored by Florida Counties Foundation

Orange County, Fla. – Orange County Utilities was recently awarded a County Government Best Practices Award from the Florida Counties Foundation during the Florida Association of Counties Annual Conference in Orlando. Orange County received the award for its Recycling Quality Improvement Program and was among seven counties honored.

Orange County Mayor Jerry L. Demings, center, accepted the Florida Association of Counties Best Practice Award for the Recycling Quality Improvement Program with, left to right, Commissioners Christine Moore, Emily Bonilla and Maribel Gomez Cordero.

The goal of the program is to increase the amount of material being processed at recycling facilities by removing plastic bags and other non-recyclables from curbside recycling carts.

“Recycling right remains a top priority in Orange County,” said Orange County Mayor Jerry L. Demings. “We’re proud of this Orange County Utilities program that provides curbside feedback/tagging recycling carts in order to educate residents about the correct items to recycle.”

“The Best Practices Award is a great way to highlight local initiatives and innovative solutions that counties are employing to increase efficiencies in service,” said Executive Director of the Florida Counties Foundation, Eric Poole.  “It’s our goal, not only to honor this year’s winners, but to also encourage a peer-to-peer exchange of ideas between all 67 counties.”

Launched this year, the awards program was designed for counties to submit programs for consideration that address specific needs within their communities.  Twenty-two projects were submitted for consideration, with seven project submissions meeting the criteria set forth in the nomination form.

The winning projects are:

• Alachua County: Emergency Operations Center Shelter Communications App
• Volusia County: Animal Abuse Database
• Lucie County: Student Perks – Coffee Cart
• Leon County: Development Support and Environment Management “Upgrade”
• Orange County: Recycling Quality Improvement Program
• Osceola County: SENSES Park
• Pasco County: Connected City: America’s first gigabit community built from the ground up

In 1990, the Florida Association of Counties established the Florida Counties Foundation to address the growing need for education programs and technical assistance in counties across the state. Today, the Foundation offers education programs designed to help county commissioners and county staff better serve their communities.