MIAMI – The Miami-Dade Commission gathered Monday to discuss the future of waste management in the county.
The meeting comes as county landfills are almost up to capacity.
There was an overwhelming turnout inside of commission chambers Monday morning as dozens of speakers lined up to voice their opposition for the possibility of an incinerator being built at Airport West in Miramar.
“It is important that I stand before you today, that I asked that this incinerator not be built near our borders -- near the borders of the city of Miramar,” one woman told commissioners. “It can affect our quality of life. It can affect the air that we all breathe.”
Strong pushback is coming from neighbors of Miramar, Southwest Ranches and Pembroke Pines.
Miramar Mayor Wayne Messam said their message is simple.
“We don’t believe that incineration technology is the right technology for resource recovery and solid waste disposal,” he said.
In a meeting with commissioners last month, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava recommended to eliminate the incinerator option as a possible short-term solution.
The mayor said building a new waste facility with modern standards would be safe but pricey.
“For that reason, I’m recommending that we continue to long haul waste via truck and rail,” she said.
“The cost, I think now based on her memo, is something that makes a lot of sense. Why spend $1.7 billion on something that’ll take 10 1/2 years,” Commissioner Juan Carlos Bermudez said.
Other options include building an out-of-county landfill or building a waste-to-energy facility.
All sites for building a new incinerator are still on the table for next week’s final vote before the full commission — as is the idea of not building one at all.
“There is no one solution to anything,” Commissioner Raquel Regalado said. “Garbage is no different.”
In addition to exploring a portfolio of solutions, from recycling to composting, landfills to reducing the waste stream, commissioners will also consider an item that passed in a committee Monday.
Sponsored by Bermudez, the former founding mayor of Doral, this proposal states that if an incinerator is built, it must exclude the City of Doral, the Town of Medley, and Northwest 56th Street.
Bermudez said it will be heard in tandem with an item already on next week’s agenda, sponsored by Commissioner Oliver Gilbert, which considers all locations.
Why did this all start?
It goes back to 2023 as the county was in search for a replacement of a Doral incinerator that burned down.
The initial idea was to build the incinerator again in Doral, but that plan was eventually dropped following a call from Eric Trump, saying his family was against it being near Trump National Doral.
Right now, trash in the county is being hauled via truck and train by a contractor outside of the county.
During a January workshop, the county’s Water and Sewer Department director told commissioners that continuing to long-haul trash by truck and train to private facilities up north is significantly more cost-efficient than building a pricey new incinerator.
A final vote is expected during a commission meeting scheduled for Feb. 19.
