MIAMI – The massive cleanup of tons and tons of trash began shortly before 9 a.m. Friday morning. Crews with the Florida Department of Transportation and the city of Miami’s solid waste department were digging into a massive amount of wet, stinky garbage that has been sitting and stewing by the bay off the MacArthur Causeway for months.
Environmental activists like Dave Doebler took notice in recent weeks, as had the hundreds who saw videos of the trash on social media and expressed outrage. He says many of the items belonged to homeless people who’ve since left the area.
“There’s clothing, bikes, fishing rods, and electronics,” Doebler said.
He said while it looks like the problem started with homeless people living there, more garbage has been added since.
“It looks like a combination of a homeless encampment but it’s something that’s been going on for a long long time and it almost looks like it’s the result of illegal dumping,” Doebler said.
The goal is to clean up the mess without further contaminating the bay.
FDOT is in charge of the coordinated effort and they were planning on working throughout the day Friday and they will return if more work needs to be done.