Orange County, Florida faced a residential recycling load rejection rate of over 90%. The Recycling Quality Improvement Program (RQIP) was developed and launched in 2018 to find ways to reduce contamination across more than 230,000 households. Consistent efforts, including tagging and rejecting repeatedly contaminated carts, improved the quality of recyclables and decreased rejection rates. Data-driven decision-making has been used to continually evolve RQIP over the years.

The first part of the session will focus on the county’s perspective on the value of the program and lessons learned. In serving such a large population, RQIP required collaboration between several entities. The Orange County Utilities Solid Waste Management Division developed the program and contracted out the labor to continuously complete four- to eight-week cycles of tagging between 4,000 and 15,000 homes. MSW Consultants has provided labor, data collection, and reporting since the program’s inception.

The second part of the session will be presented by MSW Consultants staff, providing insight into managing staffing and daily operations challenges (especially post-pandemic) and how reporting is conducted. RQIP’s results have shown that a key driver of resident behavior change is the personalized feedback tag left on filled recycling carts before collection. In a typical tagging cycle, the average clean recycling cart rate improved countywide from 43% in week one to 67% by week four. Orange County’s program supervisor will present an in-depth look at these results, including the segment of the population that does not respond to tagging, which led to a partnership with academia.

Through grants from the University of Florida’s Hinkley Center, researchers from the University of Central Florida (UCF) have used RQIP’s extensive dataset for several projects, including a socio-demographic analysis of tagging responses, assessments of environmental impacts of tagging programs, and rejected cart image processing research. A UCF PhD candidate working on the project will present useful insights from the research, including resident responses to survey questions.

About the Speakers

Mert Gokgoz
Ph.D. Candidate | University of Central Florida

Mert Gokgoz is a PhD candidate in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Construction Engineering at the University of Central Florida. Under the guidance of Dr. Jiannan Chen and Dr. Debra Reinhart, Mert's research delves into the environmental implications of solid waste disposal and innovative strategies associated with solid waste management. His primary focus is the Life Cycle Assessment of solid waste disposal, alongside efforts to mitigate contamination in recycling processes. Throughout his academic pursuit, Mert has made contributions to two projects at the Hinkley Center, encouraging better curbside recycling behaviors and improvement of the cart-tagging programs and life-cycle assessments of residential curbside collection programs for recycling quality improvement. The overall goal of his study is the explore the ways to reduce the environmental impacts of solid waste disposal operations.

Cynthia Mormile
Senior Project Manager | MSW Consultants

Cynthia Mormile joined MSW Consultants in 2016 after spending over 20 years working in the solid waste industry for public sector and non-profit organizations. She most recently served as the Solid Waste Utility Manager for the City of Columbia (Missouri), where she managed the operational and financial aspects of a vertically integrated system including residential and commercial garbage and recoverable collection, a Class I bioreactor landfill, a compost facility, and a material recovery facility (MRF). Her expertise encompasses all aspects of a full-service collection, disposal, and recovery solid waste utility, including planning and budgeting; personnel management; procurement/contracts; capital projects; rolling fleet and routing; heavy equipment; subtitle D and bioreactor landfill; waste analysis, minimization, and sustainability programs; facility operation and regulatory compliance. For MSW Consultants, she has managed numerous operations optimization studies, cost of service and rate studies, procurement processes, material composition studies, and recycling cart monitoring projects. She has served on multiple industry association boards, presented at various state and national conferences, and is currently an active member of SWANA and MORA, having served on the board and committees for these as well as APWA during her career.

Jessica Muth
Program Supervisor | Orange County Utilities

Jessica Muth serves as the Program Supervisor for the Solid Waste Management Division of Orange County Utilities (OCU), where she oversees the division’s public education and outreach initiatives. Since joining OCU in 2014 as a student intern, Jessica has played an integral role in shaping the division’s approach to community engagement and education. With a background in advertising and public relations from the University of Central Florida, Jessica brings a unique blend of communications expertise and environmental stewardship to her work. She leads a small but mighty team responsible for landfill tours, community , public events, publications, and education campaigns. Jessica also oversees the Recycling Quality Improvement Program, a countywide contamination reduction initiative she helped design and implement. Under her leadership, the program has become a cornerstone of OCU’s commitment to sustainable materials management and resident engagement.

Kevin Simmonds
Assistant Manager | Orange County Utilities

Kevin Simmonds currently serves as the Assistant Manager for the Solid Waste Management Division of Orange County Utilities (OCU) in Orlando, Florida. In this role, he provides leadership support for the day-to-day operations of the County’s landfill and transfer station facilities, as well as its residential collection and recycling programs—serving one of Florida’s largest counties. Kevin is responsible for ensuring efficient, compliant, and resilient waste management practices while leading a diverse team committed to operational excellence and continuous improvement. He brings over 18 years of experience with OCU, having contributed across multiple departments including Water, Wastewater, Field Services, and Solid Waste Management. His leadership has been instrumental in implementing strategic planning initiatives, standard operating procedures, technical audits, and performance tracking systems to align operations with organizational goals. Kevin holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Central Florida and is passionate about developing people and building purpose-driven teams.