7 March 2-8, 2023 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | Contents | Letters | news | night+Day | CuLture | Cafe | MusiC | miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | CONTENTS | LETTERS | RIPTIDE | METRO | NIGHT+DAY | STAGE | ART | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | One resident said during the conference that he can’t stand the idea of the stench persisting. “I live really close to the area, in the Land- mark community. In the community, espe- cially on Sundays — all the smells, the garbage — it was pretty much impossible to get out from our home,” he said. “I know the emer- gency now is to finish [off] the fire. But what about later?” Florida: Garbage-Incineration Capital of the U.S. The Miami-Dade Resources Recovery Facil- ity opened on a 160-acre property on the edge of the east buffer zone of the Everglades in 1982, when the area was sparsely developed. Over the years, the county’s westward res- idential expansion placed houses closer and closer to the plant. Now, luxury communities with million-dollar homes sit a few hundred feet from the facility — or what’s left of it. According to a 2021 permit-renewal appli- cation, the complex included four trash com- busters that converted heat from incinerating garbage into steam to generate energy. Under normal operations, pollution-control meth- ods included a fabric filter, a spray dryer ab- sorber for acidic gases, and activated carbon for heavy metals and dioxins. The facility was permitted to collect and in- cinerate common residential garbage — every- thing from food waste to plastic containers to paper products to dirty diapers. Other trash sources such as old tires and construction ma- terials were also permitted for burning, though there were regulated limits on the amount of nonresidential refuse the plant could process as a percentage of its total volume. (The facility did not incinerate bulk hazardous waste.) New Jersey-based Covanta, which owns three dozen waste-to-energy plants scattered across the United States, maintains that its operations are a form of “reliable and sustain- able waste management.” In a challenge to the plant’s 2021 permit renewal, the environmental advocacy group Florida Rising begged to differ, claiming in- cinerators “are one of the most polluting sources of energy from start to finish.” “Though the incineration industry claims that this energy is clean and renew- able, incinerators are the most emission-in- tensive form of generating electricity in the U.S. today and can emit more air pollutants than coal plants per unit of energy,” the group argued. Covanta declined to comment on questions about the fire when reached by New Times on February 16. “We are still in the very early stages of this investigation and the focus at this time remains on containing the fire,” the company said. “Our priority is our employees and community. We are extremely grateful for the continued efforts of Miami-Dade County Fire Rescue and other emergency responders for their tireless work at the facility over the past several days.” In May of 2021, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill that provided for a state-funded finan- cial grant program for waste-to-energy incin- eration. The law’s passage led industry news publication Waste Dive to declare that the Sunshine State had solidified “its status as the nation’s waste-to-energy capital.” As of June 2022, Florida was home to ten waste-to-energy plants — more than any other state, according to Waste Dive. While Florida appears to be embracing trash incineration, such facilities have been on the decline nationwide. The total number of U.S. commercial incinerators peaked at more than 180 in the early 1990s but fell to less than 80 by 2016. If a new incineration facility were built in Miami-Dade, it would be one of only a hand- ful of large-scale incinerators to be con- structed in the U.S. in the past decade, according to the Energy Justice Network. [email protected] “A TRASH INCINERATING OPERATION OF THIS MAGNITUDE SHOULD NOT BE SO CLOSE TO RESIDENTS IN SUCH A DENSELY POPULATED CITY.” register to win at miaminewtimes.com/promos COOL STUFF go here to WIN
