News In Brief

Miami-Dade County mayor scraps plan for new trash-burning facility in Doral

WLRN Public Media | By Jimena Romero

Published January 27, 2025 at 5:51 PM EST

View of a pile of trash collected around South Florida, at the Miami-Dade Resources Recovery Facility in Doral, on Friday April, 14, 2022, less than a year before a fire shut down the facility in February 2023.

Bowing to pressure from the Trump family, Miami-Dade County mayor is scrapping her plan for a new trash-burning facility in Doral.

This comes just two months after Mayor Daniella Levine Cava's recommendation came under attack by President Donald Trump’s son, Eric. The county's longtime trash incinerator in Doral burned down in early 2023.

Doral Mayor Christi Fraga said having large investors in the city was helpful for this reversal, which she says is a win for Doral.

“Building on this location was really not gonna solve the needs for the county long term and spending 1.2 to 1.8 billion dollars, which is around the range of where it was, really just did not make financial sense for the county," Fraga told NBC6 in an interview.

In a weekend memo, Levine Cava says hauling trash to an out-of-county location makes more sense than replacing the Doral incinerator.

Commissioners will meet Tuesday to discuss alternatives and the solid waste system operations.

The incinerator site is located about three miles from Trump National Doral, the resort and golf club owned by the Trump organization.

This is a News In Brief report. Visit WLRN News for in-depth reporting from South Florida and Florida news.

An earlier version of this story said Miami-Dade County was scrapping the plan of the new facility. The county mayor was the one who scrapped her recommendation.