Waste Management

Since a waste-to-energy facility in Doral burned down in 2023, Miami-Dade has been shipping much of its trash north. It’s an expensive short-term fix for taxpayers as the county struggles to find a local solution. And in St. Lucie County, where the trash is put into trains to be shipped to Okeechobee County, it has created quite a stink.

North Florida flat, rural cattle pastures — longtime dumping grounds of South Florida's sewage sludge — will close their gates to feces-filled trucks by 2028. That's owing to a provision of Florida's Farm Bill, signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in March.

Some recent studies from the University of Miami’s Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center suggest that women living near Superfund sites — federally designated hazardous waste areas — face a higher risk of developing aggressive forms of breast cancer.

Miami-Dade is getting creative about one of its stinkiest problems: garbage.

Miami-Dade has been slow to catch up with other states and other Florida communities in embracing large-scale composting. While landfills have continued to fill up, there hasn’t been a clear path in the county code for community composters to legally operate. That just changed.

The agreement signals the end of a monthslong legal battle. It includes a rough timeline for the closure of the site and increased environmental monitoring.

The debate over the location of a new trash incinerator in Miami-Dade is heating up again with Eric Trump, the son of the president-elect, joining the fight against it being built in the city of Doral — with a commissioner telling WLRN any intervention from the President-elect's family would be "illegal."

Miami-Dade County commissioners, following a public hearing, have deferred a final vote until Nov. 6 after widespread community opposition to the building of a new incinerator. Miramar Mayor Wayne Messam says the county's plan to build a new trash incinerator near his Broward city raises serious economical and environmental concerns.

Miami-Dade County Commissioner Rene Garcia tells WLRN that waste management is not always top of mind for a lot of people. But the Covanta energy plant fire in Doral has pushed for a rethink of South Florida's relationship with trash — how much waste people produce and where to put our garbage for the long haul.

Broward County commissioners and leaders at Waste Management are trying to find ways to make recycling easier and more efficient in South Florida.

Stretching into its fourth day, the fire at the Covanta Energy incinerator plant in Doral continued to burn Thursday as Miami-Dade County officials again stressed that there was no immediate pollutant threat for neighboring residents.

There’s a growing nursing shortage and it starts with a growing nursing educator shortage. Broward County communities are looking to start a new trash district. Plus, a teenage TikTok star who spends his time in the Everglades making beautiful photos and videos.