Miami-Dade commission to discuss new incinerator site proposal

MIAMI – It’s the age-old saga of not in my backyard.

The Miami-Dade Commission is expected to discuss the controversial issue of where to build a new trash incinerator at Wednesday’s meeting.

As South Florida continues to grow, so does the trash problem.

In February, the county’s waste to energy facility in Doral caught fire and burned for days. It was later shut down. Originally, the plan was to build a new facility next to it, but that was scrapped after the fire.

Now a proposal before the commission is to build a new waste management campus at the old Opa-locka Airport of US 27.

Bermudez supports building a new incinerator away from Doral in an area where people won’t have to live close to it.

“It’s step one, but an important step,” says Miami-Dade Commissioner Juan Carlos Bermudez.

There are some businesses in the proposed area but nothing that would impact the residents.

“The land is not necessarily anything that would be environmentally problematic. People will keep on moving to South Florida so we are going to have to have to continue to deal with this. We have to be intelligent about making a long-term,” said Bermudez.

If the commission decides to move ahead with the new area, it could be years before the new waste management site is built. In the meantime, the county’s trash will continue to go to landfills.

Broward is also considering building a new trash incinerator. It would be about five miles away at the county’s landfill, which is also on US 27.

Both Miami-Dade and Broward recognize more recycling needs to be part of the long-term trash solution.

Broward says if residents could increase the current recycling rate of 31% to 75% there wouldn’t be a need to build another incinerator.

It’s estimated South Floridians generate 4.5 pounds of trash a day.

Landfill space is getting scarce and some experts believe the methane gas generated at landfills accelerates global warming.