Miami-Dade racks up more than five million tons of waste each year \u2014 double the national average, according to Levine Cava. She cited high tourism and a lack of sustainable practices among the causes. And within the next five years Miami landfills could reach capacity. <\/p>\n
READ MORE: As Miami-Dade drags its feet on trash troubles, other areas smell the stench<\/a><\/p>\n With an impasse over a new incinerator, the Zero Waste Master Plan<\/a> unveiled by the Department of Solid Waste Management<\/a> at a press conference on Friday aims to increase recycling and waste diversion rates from 32% to 77% by 2039. <\/p>\n The event was held at the Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay Hotel, which Cava lauded as the \u201cposter child\u201d for this strategy. Inside, there were no single use plastics available to attendees and all excess food from the event would be donated. <\/p>\n Pedro Portal <\/p>\n \/<\/p>\n Miami Herald<\/p>\n View of a pile of trash collected around South Florida, at the Miami-Dade Resources Recovery Facility in Doral, on April, 14, 2022, less than a year before a fire shut down the facility in February 2023. <\/p>\n Along similar lines, the plan pushes for partnerships for the hospitality industry, so that food can be composted or donated instead of being thrown into landfills. A \u201cGreen Business Certification\u201d could provide incentives to restaurants to do so. <\/p>\n \u201cWe’re very proud of our many hospitality partners that are already leading,\u201d Cava said, \u201cThey’re embracing sustainable practices through the Green Key Global Certification Program<\/a>, which is part of our zero waste vision.\u201d<\/p>\n Beyond the hospitality industry, officials hope to encourage residents to reduce their waste.<\/p>\n Each Miami-Dade resident produces on average six pounds of garbage a day, according to the county’s Climate Action Strategy<\/a>. Miami-Dade officials are considering a \u201cSave As You Throw\u201d program, which could charge residents based on the weight of their garbage. <\/p>\n The plan was welcomed by Marcelo Balladares, Everglades organizer with the environmental advocacy group the Sierra Club. But he left the conference with key questions.<\/p>\n \u201cI am here in part to celebrate the Zero Waste Master Plan,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I think my biggest question is: will we be seeing with the zero waste [plan] any sort of incineration within that vision?\u201d<\/p>\n He cited Miami-Dade’s history, including the now demolished incinerator, locally called \u201cOld Smokey\u201d, that was placed in the historically Black West Grove neighborhood in Miami in 1926. For 50 years, residents lived with plumes of ash and smoke that emitted from the site. <\/p>\n \n 1 of 2 Luna Plaza, environmental activist with the climate-advocacy organization genCLEO<\/a>, during the press conference<\/p>\n Amara Evering \/ WLRN<\/p>\n \n 2 of 2 Marcela Balladares, Everglades organizer with the environmental advocacy group the Sierra Club,<\/a> after the press conference.<\/p>\n Amara Evering \/ WLRN<\/p>\n Incinerator troubles<\/p>\n Youth organizer Luna Plaza, who wore a purple t-shirt that read \u201cIncinerator Hater” and came as part of the climate-advocacy organization genCLEO<\/a> , echoed his sentiments. <\/p>\n Her concerns about a new trash incinerator are rooted in her personal experience. \u201c[My family] lived near an incinerator,\u201d she said. “And I saw my Mom with a lot of health issues. She has asthma.”<\/p>\n But she added: \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t be giving our trash problem to someone else.”<\/p>\n The absence of a large-scale incinerator has pushed the county to rely heavily on shipping its trash by rail to other areas in Florida, like Okeechobee. Closer to home, Palm Beach County, which is the largest recycler in the state, has declined to take Miami-Dade’s trash. It means that for this fiscal year, Miami-Dade estimates that it will spend $65 million on trash transportation.<\/p>\n![\"View](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/.jpeg\"\/)
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