Miami-Dade County is inching toward a solution to its trash problem, as county commissioners look ahead to a new waste-to-energy facility.
On Wednesday, the county administration reported that two companies that have bid to build the new facility — FCC Environmental Services, LLC (FCC), and Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) — are on their way to agreeing on a consortium, or joint venture, to then submit a joint proposal.
As of now the companies have not finished their negotiations, but the county expects them to come back with an agreement by the next commission meeting on Feb. 18. In the meantime, commissioners have asked that the administration seek price estimates for how much it would cost taxpayers if the facility could process multiple waste streams.
" I think that we should consider sludge and also sargassum as two of the possible waste streams. Just to get the price on them. Because if we're gonna build something right, we should build something for all the waste that is created by our system, not just the waste that we pick up in a trash can," said Commissioner Raquel Regalado from the dais.
These discussions come nearly three years after the fire that burned down the county's previous Covanta waste-to-energy plant in Doral in 2023. Since then, the county has struggled to find a site for a new facility, as the City of Doral has protested rebuilding a waste plant within their borders and neighboring cities to other proposed sites have done the same.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava's administration has blamed the Covanta facility's operator, Reworld, for the 2023 fire, a claim the company denies.
One potential site that commissioners have floated around is the Alligator Alcatraz immigration detention facility in the Everglades. This proposal was met with stern rebuke from environmental groups.
At Wednesday's meeting, multiple speakers wearing t-shirts that read "Incinerator Hater" went to the podium during the public comment period to speak against building a waste-to-energy facility that burns trash to make power near the Everglades.
" All currently proposed areas and locations for an incinerator are in proximity to the Everglades, threatening the protected habitat of countless endangered species, our shared ecosystem and a source of water for one in three Floridians. A significant amount of our water in Miami-Dade also comes from the Everglades," said Marcelo Balladares, an organizer with the nonprofit Sierra Club Florida.
Debates went on for years about what form the new facility should take, whether it should include an incinerator or focus primarily on compost. County commissioners voted last July that an incinerator should be built, though they did not choose a location.
While the decisions on a new waste facility have been gridlocked, Miami-Dade County has been shipping its garbage north by train and trucks to Okeechobee, Florida.
