Achieving better living through code enforcement in Hillsborough County includes conducting campaigns like the recently concluded Sign Off Day Tampa Bay, which focuses on removing illegal road signs that are unsightly and create driving hazards. A local company is helping take that effort a step further by using the collected ‘snipe’/‘bandit’ signs to create a source of green energy.
After any metal is removed from the signs, which advertise services such as trash removal, they are then collected off public rights-of-way for recycling, and the remaining material is turned into a nonfossil energy source by NuCycle Energy.
The leftover scrapped signage is then hauled to Plant City, home of NuCycle Energy’s facility that will turn it into chunks of alternative fuel which can generate energy for industrial uses like cement and lime manufacturing.
The company produces what it calls Enviro-Fuelcubes® out of waste material by using processes and technology it developed for the purpose of producing a nonfossil fuel source that can be used in any suspension burning combustion boiler. According to the company website, the Enviro-Fuelcubes are designated as capable of partially or completely replacing fossil fuels like coal for industrial processes that burn a lot of fuel to produce required amounts of energy.
The partnership with Hillsborough County’s Sign Off Day campaign began last year, and according to Kyle Pukylo, NuCycle Energy’s director of sales and procurement, their work to beautify and energize will continue.
“It’s something we plan on doing every year,” he said.
Pukylo added that NuCycle has also made an agreement with the city of Lakeland which will help turn more waste into nonfossil energy.
The cleanup was a cooperative effort by local governments, with code officers representing Hillsborough County as well as the cities of Tampa, Temple Terrace and Plant City to remove illegal signs from local streets.
While some businesses posting the signs may think of it as cheap advertising, they are prohibited by local ordinances if they are displayed on public property without a permit.
According to Pukylo, the reason to develop and use technology that keeps waste out of landfills, such as Enviro-Fuelcubes, is simple: “We stopped making land a long time ago.”
You can learn more about NuCycle Energy by visiting https://nucycleenergy.com/ online.
