It’s been three years since a fire burned down Miami-Dade County’s Covanta waste-to-energy landfill in Doral. Since then, the county has had to ship off tons of trash on trains and trucks to other parts of the state.
Now a county commissioner wants to speed up the process on solid waste decisions.
Commissioner René Garcia sponsored a resolution to create a Solid Waste Advisory Board to coordinate the county’s efforts toward a long term waste management strategy. The legislation text makes a point to highlight that Miami-Dade’s current waste strategy is unsustainable.
"The Department's current short-term solid strategy following the Resources Recovery Facility fire is not sustainable in the long term given (i) the cost associated with hauling waste out of the County, (ii) how long the site selection for the waste-to-energy facility has taken, and (iii) the rapidly declining disposal capacity of the County's landfills," the resolution reads.
The resolution will be heard at the Miami-Dade County Commission Meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 18.
The county is currently waiting on two corporations that want to build a new waste-to-energy facility to enter into a consortium together and submit a joint proposal for the project. A location for the facility has not been chosen yet.
READ MORE: County awaits joint proposal for contentious waste facility project
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