Lee County Solid Waste announces the return of its ninth annual \u201cDonated not Wasted\u201d campaign, a three-week initiative designed to reduce food waste and fight hunger in Lee County. The campaign encourages seasonal residents to donate unopened, nonperishable food items before returning north for the summer.<\/p>\n
From Monday, March 23, through Monday, April 6, the campaign partners with the Harry Chapin Food Bank, Waste Pro, Lee County Parks & Recreation, Lee County Domestic Animal Services, the Lee County Library System and two additional municipal libraries to ensure leftover food is collected and delivered to residents in need.<\/p>\n
Since its inception in 2017, \u201cDonated not Wasted\u201d has diverted more than 38,700 pounds of food from disposal, providing more than 32,200 meals to residents. This effort not only supports those facing food insecurity but also helps reduce unnecessary waste in the county landfill.<\/p>\n
High-demand items include canned meats and fish, fruit (cups, canned or dried), peanut butter, breakfast cereals, oatmeal, instant mashed potatoes (boxed), macaroni and cheese (boxed), rice, canned vegetables, soups and dry beans.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are grateful to Lee County Solid Waste and all of the partners who make this campaign possible each year,\u201d said Richard LeBer, president\/CEO of Harry Chapin Food Bank. \u201cBy redirecting perfectly good food to families who need it, this effort helps fight hunger while reducing waste in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Residents can drop off unopened pantry items at 20 convenient designated collection sites throughout the county.<\/p>\n
Drop off locations include:<\/p>\n
Parks facilities\/recreation centers<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 Estero Recreation Center \u2013 9200 Corkscrew Palms Blvd., Estero, FL 33928<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 North Fort Myers Recreation Center \u2013 2000 N. Recreation Park Way, North Fort Myers, FL 33903<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 Six Mile Cypress Slough Interpretive Center \u2013 7791 Penzance Blvd., Fort Myers, FL 33966<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 Veterans Park Recreation Center \u2013 55 Homestead Road S., Lehigh Acres, FL 33936<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 Wa-Ke-Hatchee Recreation Center \u2013 16760 Bass Road, Fort Myers, FL 33908<\/p>\n
Library locations<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 Bonita Springs Public Library \u2013 10560 Reynolds St., Bonita Springs, FL 34135<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 Cape Coral-Lee County Public Library \u2013 921 SW 39th Terrace, Cape Coral, FL 33914<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 Dunbar Jupiter Hammon Public Library \u2013 3095 Blount St., Fort Myers, FL 33916<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 East County Regional Library \u2013 881 Gunnery Road, N., Lehigh Acres, FL 33971<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 Fort Myers Beach Public Library \u2013 2755 Estero Blvd., Fort Myers Beach, FL 33931<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 Fort Myers Regional Library (South Building) \u2013 1651 Lee St., Fort Myers, FL 33901<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 Lakes Regional Library \u2013 15290 Bass Road, Fort Myers, FL 33919<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 North Fort Myers Public Library \u2013 2001 N. Tamiami Trail, North Fort Myers, FL 33903<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 Northwest Regional Library \u2013 519 Chiquita Blvd. N., Cape Coral, FL 33993<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 Pine Island Public Library \u2013 10701 Russell Road, Bokeelia, FL 33922<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 Riverdale Public Library \u2013 2421 Buckingham Road, Fort Myers, FL 33905<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 Sanibel Public Library \u2013 770 Dunlop Road, Sanibel, FL 33957<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 South County Regional Library \u2013 21100 Three Oaks Parkway, Estero, FL 33928<\/p>\n
Additional locations<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 Household Chemical Waste and Electronics Recycling \u2013 6441 Topaz Court, Fort Myers, FL 33966<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 Along with pantry items, household chemical waste is accepted for free. Items include paint, pesticides, motor oil, fuel and rechargeable batteries.<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 Lee County Domestic Animal Services \u2013 5600 Banner Drive, Fort Myers, FL 33912<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 Along with pantry items, unopened dog and cat food (dry and canned) also are accepted.<\/p>\n
To receive updates from Lee County Government, sign up for the newsletter HERE<\/a> and follow on social media<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lee County Solid Waste announces the return of its ninth annual \u201cDonated not Wasted\u201d campaign, a three-week initiative…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":199619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-203323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}