Awards, Grants & Recognitions
Recycle Florida Today, Inc., known as Florida’s state recycling organization, has declared this year’s Recycle Florida Today Environmental Sustainability award winner as Indian River County.
RFT came together to congratulate Indian River County as well as Collier County and Lee County as finalists, to showcase their outstanding Florida programs. The programs displayed an increased awareness of the importance of sustainability and ability to motivate others to maximize their recycling, composting, grass-roots efforts, waste reduction, sustainability efforts and improving their recycling rates through education, outreach and by example.
Sue Flak, recycling education and marketing coordinator for Indian River County, presented the community fridge program during the webinar and accepted the award. The Fellsmere Fridge is part of a new local pilot program called the Community Fridge Program, here a refrigerator is placed within a community and is used to share food at the neighborhood level. The motto of the program is, “Take what you need, Leave what you can.” The purpose of the program is to reduce food waste, build stronger communities, encourage local artists and promote equal access to healthy food.
The Fellsmere Fridge is maintained by a communal collective of partners. The volunteer organizations include the City of Fellsmere, Indian River County, the Sunrise Rotary, the Haller/Loja family, Cutting Edge Signs, United Against Poverty, the Treasure Coast Food Bank, the Boys and Girls Club of Fellsmere, Indian River Charter High School Interact Club, Heather Kramer/Luz De La Hoz, Marsh Landing, Lowe’s of Vero Beach, Complete Electric and the first grade students of Fellsmere Elementary.
Published in the November 2022 Edition