Financial Stewardship

The Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County is committed to transparency and accountability for every taxpayer dollar that is used to provide waste management services to the residents of Palm Beach County. In fact, we are able to use your tax dollars to create revenues and resources that help to maintain relatively consistent fees year over year.

Waste-to-Energy

The SWA is a producer of renewable energy. We take your household trash, divert it from the landfill, and turn it into clean electricity. We use that electricity to power our own facilities and then sell the remaining energy to FPL, which it uses to power nearly 74,000 households. The revenues from selling clean energy help to offset the disposal costs to the taxpayer, keeping your disposal assessments low.

The chart to the right illustrates the total tons of waste processed into clean energy and the revenues generated from this process over the last five fiscal years. The SWA's Comprehensive Annual Financial Report contains a summary all of revenues and expenses (see page 5 of the FY2020 Report). 

Recyclables

Did you know that recycling isn't just good for the environment? When Palm Beach County residents recycle consistently and Recycle Right, it allows the SWA to take those recycled materials, sort them, and then sell them at market rate. After offsetting the cost to process the recycled materials, the SWA shares any remaining recycling revenues with our partner municipalities as part of the Recycling Revenue Share Program. 

The chart to the right illustrates the tons of recycled materials received and the revenues generated from selling these materials at market value over the last five fiscal years. For more information, view our Recycling Reports page.