LEON COUNTY, Fla. — Saturday, people in the community celebrated the 10th year of the Leon County Office of Sustainability's creation and it's efforts to find strategies to drive energy and water conservation, waste reduction, and more.
The group has created a net 0 building, which creates more energy than it consumes, and saved over $8 million in building retro-fits among other things.
"We have alternative fuel vehicles in our Leon County fleet. We have reduced our waste in our offices and practiced more sustainable purchasing." said Tessa Schreiner, the recycling and sustainability manager for Leon County.
Over the last decade, Leon County along with other programs in partnership with Leon County, have also tried to improve the sustainability. One of the main focuses is recycling. The county has increased its ability to recycle 66 percent of all waste.
"The biggest accomplishment is the awareness and increase in recycling... I think we have made it easier for the public to recycle." said George Loscialo, the recycling and marketing manager for Marpan.
Leon County is also taking steps to clean the lakes in the area by putting in storm water management facilitates. While cleaning up lakes is important for residents, it also helps the environment south of the county.
"The water that you have in your lakes actually effects the manatees and the surface water down in Wakulla Springs." said Theresa hiker, Storm Water Management Coordinator for Leon County Public Works
While Leon County has made huge improvements making the county more environmentally friendly, there is still work to be done.
"Right now we are currently drafting our second sustainability action plan, so kind of the next chapter of things the county can do to become more sustainable." said Schreiner.
A long list of successes, but still room to grow.
