With the construction of a massive new garbage incinerator in Miami-Dade County now in serious doubt, environmentalists and climate activists hope it will open the door for a waste disposal method they鈥檝e been pushing for for decades.
Is it finally time for large-scale composting in South Florida?
The reality is that we鈥檙e still years or more away from being required to sort our eggshells and banana peels from the rest of our trash. But a new county report outlines what would need to happen to make composting a bigger part of a waste disposal pipeline that has long depended on landfills, which are running out of room, and incinerators, which cost hundreds of millions and communities want nowhere nearby. It suggests a year-long pilot study to test a compost operation鈥檚 effects on drinking water under out feet and to update zoning policies to offer a legal pathway for small private companies to compost on farmland.
鈥淭he mayor鈥檚 solution that basically puts trash on trucks and train cars hundreds of miles away, burning carbon all the way up, makes it even more important that we compost locally,鈥� said District 5 Commissioner Eileen Higgins, who sponsored the resolution for the county to put together a report on composting.
Advocates argue that composting protects the climate because it reduces the methane that鈥檚 formed in landfills while creating a 鈥渃ircular economy鈥� where organic waste like food scraps aren鈥檛 wasted. Instead, the process produces rich, nutrient-dense soil that gardeners sometimes refer to as 鈥渂lack gold.鈥�
READ MORE: Composting 101: How to start making what South Florida gardeners call 鈥榖lack gold鈥�
But trying to run a composting operation is also a complicated business in Miami-Dade, falling under several agencies. It鈥檚 classified as a solid waste operation that can only happen on industrial-zoned land, even though the end product is designed to be used in farming and gardening.
The zoning policies, critics say, have made Miami-Dade lag behind other states and communities in Florida that have created robust composting systems 鈥� and was the reason the county had to turn back a $200,000 grant that would鈥檝e scaled up three locally-owned compost operations last year.
Broward is also pondering large-scale composting too. Waste Management (WM) offered to open back up its Okeechobee Organics Facility if the county agrees to initiate a composting program in the future, said Dawn McCormick, the communications director of Florida WM.
Broward Mayor Bean Furr, who also serves as co-chair of the county鈥檚 Climate Change Task Force said the proposal keeps with the 鈥渆nvironmental stewardship鈥� and 鈥減rogressive policies鈥� of Broward County.
鈥淵our organic household waste and garbage when it gets landfilled generates methane which traps heat, warms the planet, causes the seas to rise, and puts those of us living here, where we are only a few feet above sea level, at risk,鈥� Bean Furr said during Tuesday鈥檚 Broward County Commission meeting. 鈥淭his agreement gives us the chance to divert those organics.鈥�
Except the plan comes with a hitch 鈥� expanding the height and width of Monarch Hill Landfill, in Pompano Beach, otherwise known as 鈥淢ount Trashmore.鈥� After five hours of deliberation, the items were deferred until Feb. 25.
鈥淏roward County is allowing Waste Management to make false promises because, at the end of the day, waste management can choose not to recycle if they unilaterally deem it to not be economically feasible,鈥� Todd Drosky, Deerfield Beach City Commissioner said at the Broward County Commission meeting on Tuesday. 鈥樷��
For environmental organizations, the Miami-Dade鈥檚 pivot away from what was billed as the biggest waste-to-energy project in the nation, was a cause for celebration. Several groups attending the annual Everglades Coalition conference at the Miccosukee Casino & Resort in western Miami-Dade, issued a joint statement on Friday morning calling Levine Cava鈥檚 decision to turn away from waste incineration and hopefully towards zero waste a 鈥渨inning strategy for the Everglades and its neighbors.鈥�
鈥淲e know that people who live around trash burners suffer inordinate health effects from pollution,鈥� Dominique Burkhardt, Earthjustice senior attorney said in a press release. 鈥淟ooking ahead, a true Zero Waste plan to reduce waste that would otherwise be burned or shipped to other communities, is the healthiest option for people and the planet.鈥�
The county is selecting a consultant to create a comprehensive 鈥淶ero Waste plan鈥� that will review everything from how the county collects and disposes waste to legislative action to achieve zero waste. Once a consultant is selected, the plan could take about 18-months.
But Levine Cava鈥檚 reasons for flipping her decision on the waste-to-energy plant weren鈥檛 exactly an endorsement of a zero waste plan. After push back from surrounding cities and most recently, Eric Trump, son of Present Trump, whose family owns Trump National Doral Golf Club, the mayor now envisions sending the county鈥檚 tons of waste to a landfill, an option she had previously panned.
鈥淭he administration does seem to have amnesia,鈥� Higgins said during the Jan. 28 commission meeting. 鈥淚 think land filling is a terrible idea and outrageously dangerous for our environment.鈥�
A formal decision on the future of the incinerators could comes later this month. Commission Chairman Anthony Rodriguez said votes will be taken in February on whether to move ahead incinerator.
READ MORE: Broward again votes to defer decision over expansion of 'Mount Trashmore' landfill
Pros and possible cons of Miami-Dade composting
The composting report sent to the commission Nov. 19 details the benefits and possible setbacks of turning food scraps to soil, with the biggest concern being the Biscayne Aquifer, that lays just a few feet below the land鈥檚 surface and is the principal source of drinking water for Miami-Dade and Monroe County.
But maybe the biggest hurdle would be similar to the problem with recycling: community education in sorting the items to reduce contamination.
One issue: PFAS is not a natural byproduct of the decomposition of organic materials but instead comes from utensils and other food serviceware that are advertised as 鈥渃ompostable,鈥� the report said. A study out of the University of Florida found that when separated, PFAS in organic material, like food, isn鈥檛 measurable.
One example the report listed of composting going wrong was in Massachusetts where the facility鈥檚 groundwater and compost was found to have PFAS concentrations up to 1000 times higher than Environmental Protection Agency standards. While the facility wasn鈥檛 confirmed to be at fault, it was shut down.
READ MORE: She鈥檚 Miami鈥檚 compost queen, ruler of a climate-friendly, waste-eating worm force
While small-scale programs are encouraged to provide benefits for soil enhancement on a local scale, the report acknowledges to actually make a significant reduction in the 350,000 tons of organic waste Miami-Dade County produces in the long term there would be a need for 鈥渓arge-scale county-wide programs facilitated by the support of County leadership.鈥�
Arcadis, a design and engineering consulting firm, estimated the first-year cost to construct and operate the three composting facilities that would be necessary to dispose of all the organic waste in the county would run between $25.2 million and $28 million. Alternatively, the estimated first-year cost to construct and operate an enclosed 鈥渋n-vessel鈥� composting facility is estimated between $3.1 million and $17.5 million, not including the capital cost of land or buildings.
Higgins, who sponsored the resolution to produce the composting report, hopes to introduce legislation in February that would fix the zoning problems and allow composting on farmland not hooked up to sewage.
鈥淐omposting has got to become more prevalent, and our code needs to update and coordinate with the times to make that feasible for companies to operate and for homeowners and people like you and me to figure out how to participate,鈥� Higgins said.
One local business that would benefit from the changes is Compost for Life, a doorstep pickup service and commercial composter for restaurants, flower shops and more. Francisco Torres, the owner of Compost for Life, said he is working with Higgins for a legal pathway to expand and grow his business.
鈥淔ood scraps are not waste,鈥� Torres said. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 be treated as waste haulers, we are healing our planet by bringing life to our soil where more than 95% of the food we eat comes from.鈥�
Ashley Miznazi is a climate change reporter for the Miami Herald funded by the Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Family Foundation in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners.
This story was originally published February 2, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
