Palm Beach County's Solid Waste Authority Protects Environment

The Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County (SWA) actively manages environmental programs to protect local resources, including freshwater aquifers, air, soil, and wildlife. The Authority’s environmental staff oversees permitting and ensures compliance across all SWA facilities.

Environmental professionals prepare, submit, and monitor applications to regulatory agencies, ensuring SWA facilities meet all required permit conditions. The staff maintains environmental compliance through pollution prevention, facility inspections, groundwater and surface water quality testing, air emissions monitoring, and compliance reports.

Extensive monitoring occurs around SWA facilities, from John Prince Park to the edge of the Everglades. This monitoring fulfills permit regulations and tracks environmental trends. The Environmental Programs staff specifically manages permitting and compliance monitoring for SWA facilities and landfills. Key activities include air emissions testing, facility audits, bird monitoring, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) use, groundwater and surface water quality testing, and wetland monitoring.

These efforts by the SWA’s Environmental Programs staff ensure regulatory adherence and proactively protect the region’s natural assets, from the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge to the Atlantic coast. The monitoring and compliance strategies aim to ensure the local environment's long-term health while supporting the Authority’s waste management operations.