The Department's pollution prevention (P2) program was significantly expanded in the 1998 legislative session with the funding of a P2 coordinator in each of the six regulatory districts. These individuals, in coordination with the Bureau's P2 program, provide technical assistance to businesses to reduce or eliminate sources of pollution, thereby reducing regulatory exposure and providing P2 as an alternative to fines resulting from enforcement actions.

The municipal solid waste recycling rate has grown from 4% in 1988 to a current estimated rate of 40%, an increase from 1 million tons of recyclable materials recovered in 1988 to nearly 10 million tons today. There are now nearly 300 curbside recycling programs in Florida providing curbside collection service to an estimated three million households.

The department was successful during the 1997 legislative session in strengthening the laws governing the disposal of construction and demolition debris (which previously had been all but exempt from regulation) and has recently adopted rules requiring permits, ground water monitoring, financial assurance for closure and other needed controls.

The Bureau has implemented a number of programs to reduce the amount of mercury in municipal solid waste resulting from mercury-containing devices such as thermostats, fluorescent lamps and household batteries. As a result, mercury in the waste stream is projected to be less than 5 tons by the year 2000, down from an estimated 37 tons in 1989.

Through the Performance Partnership Agreement the department negotiated with Environmental Protection Agency Region IV in 1997, the Bureau has streamlined the reporting requirements and other paper work required to implement the federally delegated Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Subtitle C program which governs the management and disposal of hazardous waste.