Coachman Park also incorporates other sustainable features into the park’s design, such as native landscaping, solar panels, electric vehicle charging stations, bioswales for moving stormwater through the city and the use of energy-efficient materials. The park was designed above the current FEMA requirements to mitigate flood risk and to account for sea-level rise.  

Be sure to check out this wonderful addition to the city! 

The Sustainability Division is now back to a team of two! Cassie Cordova joined as the new sustainability manager. Cordova grew up in Clearwater before leaving to pursue her education and explore the world. After traveling to nearly 60 countries, she wanted to come home to help protect our vulnerable slice of paradise. She received her undergraduate degree from UF and earned a Masters in Global Sustainability from USF.  

Cordova joins Melody Yin, who has been the city’s sustainability specialist since March 2022. Yin also holds the same master's degree from USF. Her interest in sustainability and conservation stemmed from her interaction with the sea through scuba diving for the last 13 years. You might have seen her at various Clearwater events passionately engaging the community on sustainability topics.  

The team looks forward to continuing to implement strategies and solutions for positive change in Clearwater. 

In August 2023, Clearwater City Council unanimously approved a long-term, single-stream recycling contract option with Waste Connections of St. Petersburg, the same vendor that was processing our recycling since February. The city will pay $120 per ton of recycling and receive revenue sharing for our recyclables, based on the current market.  

The City Council also unanimously approved customer credits for recycling, in response to the discovery by the city that recycling had not been properly processed from July 2022 to December 2022. Credits are in the form of free service, or not charging customers, for recycling for six months, starting this month. Customers who have moved out of Clearwater and think they may be due a refund can request a credit by filling out this form.

The city of Clearwater welcomed the public and their furry friends to the dog park at Crest Lake Park for a fun, earth-friendly event Sept. 22, to encourage awareness to reduce pet waste and stormwater pollution. This event was part of the Clearwater Stormwater Outreach & Education Program that is supported by the Florida Department of Transportation and managed by the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council.  

To reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and meet the goals laid out in Greenprint 2.0, the city has pledged to increase energy efficiency in our facilities. In March 2022, the city advanced its commitment by partnering with a consulting firm, Cenergistic, to reduce electricity, water and natural gas consumption in city facilities by 20 percent over five years. This program is an organizational behavior-based energy conservation program. A dedicated energy specialist works on site to conduct regular energy audits, find and fix faults and help find opportunities for savings.  

Since the program started, the city has reduced its electricity consumption by 827 hours every week. This achievement is due to our teams taking a holistic, deep dive into all facilities’ energy use patterns and reducing energy by adjusting the thermostat during unoccupied times. City facilities have since reduced electricity consumption by nine percent, and we reduced natural gas consumption by 27 percent from the baseline year (pre-COVID Mar 2019 to Feb 2020). This translates to a cumulative cost savings on electric and natural gas of $450,113.  

Conserving energy also means benefits to the environment. The energy saved in the first year of our program is environmentally equal to planting 36,154 trees and saving emissions from 5.4 million miles driven by an average vehicle. Performance from the first year was presented to City Council in June 2023. 

The third annual Big Cleanup Clearwater is right around the corner from Oct. 9-14, and registration is now open for volunteers to choose a cleanup site. All are welcome! The goal is to collect as much litter from Clearwater’s beaches, parks, streets and trails and prevent it from becoming marine debris harming our coastal environment.  

Volunteers for this year will be entered to win awards in the following three categories: Bambino, Golden Guardian and Power Picker. Medals made with sustainability in mind, courtesy of the Main Library staff, will be presented to the winners at a City Council meeting after the cleanup. The Big Cleanup Clearwater is a collaborative effort hosted by the city of Clearwater, Keep Pinellas Beautiful, Ocean Allies, Visit St. Pete/Clearwater and AMPLIFY Clearwater. This cleanup series supports various strategies in Clearwater’s sustainability action plan, Greenprint 2.0, under Livability and Educational and Awareness sections.  

The city of Clearwater is happy to announce the return of the Clearwater Creates Compost bin giveaway. The program is open to the first 150 Clearwater residents with proof of residency, who have completed the online Clearwater Creates Compost course. The compost bins will be distributed Saturday, Nov. 18, from 9 a.m. to noon at the Clearwater Solid Waste and Recycling Center, 1701 N. Hercules Ave.  

Nearly one quarter of all landfill content comes from food waste, higher than any other single material that is thrown away. When food decomposes in a landfill, it emits methane, a powerful greenhouse gas (GHG). Composting food scraps diverts them from the landfill, reducing the city’s GHG emissions and contributing to cleaner air for all.  

This program is a strategy of Greenprint 2.0 to increase awareness about backyard composting. The deadline to complete the course is Nov. 16. Visit MyClearwater.com/Compost for details and to take the course. Big thank you to the Solid Waste Division for spearheading this program. 

Clearwater has installed three new dual-port EV, or electric vehicle, chargers on Pierce Street right next to Coachman Park, which are in the final phase of operational testing. The chargers will be operated by Blink Charging, the same as the two existing ones in the Garden Avenue Garage.  

The city is collaborating with Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) to host an opening celebration and public EV test drive event, with a date to be announced. This event will fulfill two strategies of Greenprint 2.0 Transportation: (1) to host a minimum of one event per year at which the public is encouraged to try an electric vehicle, and (2) to continue installing public EV charging stations. Stay tuned for more details.  

Strategy: Choose the Right Transportation