As Miami-Dade struggles to decide where to build a new waste-to-energy incinerator and Broward County works toward approving a new waste management master plan, the need to recycle correctly has never been more urgent.<\/p>\n
A few months ago, a brand-new facility was unveiled, promising to bring recycling into the future and make the process more effective and affordable. Now, South Floridians are being urged to step up and get it right.<\/p>\n
\u201cRecycling really works, and recycling really is real. If you put good, clean material at your curb, it comes here,\u201d said Dawn McCormick, communications director for Waste Management Florida.<\/p>\n
The facility is South Florida\u2019s latest high-tech effort to tackle a growing solid waste crisis.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe run it through a $90 million facility. We have bales at the end that we have markets for, mostly in the United States, and those become new products,\u201d McCormick said.<\/p>\n
Waste Management unveiled the new, high-tech, 127,000-square-foot recycling facility in West Pembroke Pines in February. It can process 275,000 tons of material each year at a rate of 60 tons per hour.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we can do is recycle some additional items, which we\u2019re excited about — some additional types of plastics and other things that our optical sorters are able to allow us to do,\u201d McCormick said.<\/p>\n
The effort is critical as both Broward and Miami-Dade counties each produce more than 5 million tons of waste every year — double the national average.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now in South Florida, we have limited landfill space, and the clock is ticking,\u201d McCormick said. \u201cI think all of our elected officials and our counties are aware of that and trying to preserve the space that does remain.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Miami-Dade alone, about 36% — or 1.8 million tons — of materials are recycled each year. However, 39% of what enters the recycling stream is contaminated, meaning it doesn\u2019t belong there and drives up costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just doesn\u2019t work well in our equipment, and it ends up getting into the other bales of cardboard and other things where it doesn\u2019t belong,\u201d McCormick said.<\/p>\n
Instead, plastic bags should be returned to retailers that have designated recycling bins. Recyclables should be placed loosely in the bin.<\/p>\n
Officials also warn against putting items like garden hoses, plastic tubing, cords, electronics and batteries — especially lithium-ion batteries — into recycling bins.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not what we want. We don\u2019t want the tanglers and the hoses and the cords,\u201d McCormick said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want electronics, and we don\u2019t want any types of batteries, especially your lithium-ion batteries, which are sparking fires in our collection trucks and facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those items should be taken to county household hazardous waste sites.<\/p>\n