Landfills are filling up: Here’s the goal in the Tampa Bay area [Video]

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — It’s eco-week on 10 Tampa Bay Brightside, and we are looking at ways we can all be more eco-friendly. That can start with understanding where your garbage goes after you put it in the trash. 

Every county handles its trash a little differently. In Pinellas County, it’s all brought to the 700-acre Solid Waste Disposal Complex. 80-90% of the trash gets incinerated and converted to power.

“We produce the equivalent amount of energy that it would take to power about 45,000 homes per day at our waste-to-energy facility,” Emily LeMay, Solid Waste Program Coordinator with Pinellas County, explained. LeMay says the county sells it back to Duke Energy, which uses it to power the grid. 

But what about the other 20% of our waste? That trash ends up in a landfill, which works fine – for now.  

Pinellas County’s landfill has a lifespan of fewer than 80 years, which …