Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava urged the county to finally “deal with [its] trash” as she unveiled a plan that aims to more than double recycling rates over the next 13 years.
Since the county’s waste-to-energy incinerator burned to the ground in 2023, the county has been dealing with a trash crisis, spending tens of millions of dollars shipping garbage to other parts of the state. Although county commissioners are aligned on the need for a new incinerator, a location has yet to be found as communities protest to keep such a facility out of their neighborhoods.
Miami-Dade racks up more than five million tons of waste each year — double the national average, according to Levine Cava. She cited high tourism and a lack of sustainable practices among the causes. And within the next five years Miami landfills could reach capacity.
READ MORE: As Miami-Dade drags its feet on trash troubles, other areas smell the stench
With an impasse over a new incinerator, the Zero Waste Master Plan unveiled by the Department of Solid Waste Management at a press conference on Friday aims to increase recycling and waste diversion rates from 32% to 77% by 2039.
The event was held at the Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay Hotel, which Cava lauded as the “poster child” for this strategy. Inside, there were no single use plastics available to attendees and all excess food from the event would be donated.
Along similar lines, the plan pushes for partnerships for the hospitality industry, so that food can be composted or donated instead of being thrown into landfills. A “Green Business Certification” could provide incentives to restaurants to do so.
“We're very proud of our many hospitality partners that are already leading,” Cava said, “They're embracing sustainable practices through the Green Key Global Certification Program, which is part of our zero waste vision.”
Beyond the hospitality industry, officials hope to encourage residents to reduce their waste.
Each Miami-Dade resident produces on average six pounds of garbage a day, according to the county's Climate Action Strategy. Miami-Dade officials are considering a “Save As You Throw” program, which could charge residents based on the weight of their garbage.
The plan was welcomed by Marcelo Balladares, Everglades organizer with the environmental advocacy group the Sierra Club. But he left the conference with key questions.
“I am here in part to celebrate the Zero Waste Master Plan,” he said. “And I think my biggest question is: will we be seeing with the zero waste [plan] any sort of incineration within that vision?”
He cited Miami-Dade's history, including the now demolished incinerator, locally called “Old Smokey”, that was placed in the historically Black West Grove neighborhood in Miami in 1926. For 50 years, residents lived with plumes of ash and smoke that emitted from the site.
Incinerator troubles
Youth organizer Luna Plaza, who wore a purple t-shirt that read “Incinerator Hater" and came as part of the climate-advocacy organization genCLEO , echoed his sentiments.
Her concerns about a new trash incinerator are rooted in her personal experience. “[My family] lived near an incinerator,” she said. "And I saw my Mom with a lot of health issues. She has asthma."
But she added: “We shouldn’t be giving our trash problem to someone else."
The absence of a large-scale incinerator has pushed the county to rely heavily on shipping its trash by rail to other areas in Florida, like Okeechobee. Closer to home, Palm Beach County, which is the largest recycler in the state, has declined to take Miami-Dade's trash. It means that for this fiscal year, Miami-Dade estimates that it will spend $65 million on trash transportation.
As costs for trash shipment rose, officials considered rebuilding Miami-Dade’s solid waste facility where the old one was in Doral. But President Donald Trump’s son, Eric, protested — citing their nearby resort and golf course. The Trump National Doral resort was built over 30 years after the trash facility was constructed.
Levine Cava noted that the usage of incineration has been approved by her commission, but confirmed there has been no movement on the issue as the county has not been able to identify where a new incinerator would be built.
"Which is a big hurdle and the cost has escalated so much," Levine Cava said. “So, at this moment, we don’t have a path forward.”
“We don’t have a site [for the incinerator]," she added. “We were directed to negotiate with a particular consortium of two companies but right now we’re at an impasse because we can’t get the details that we need to enter into an agreement.”
