“Approval of this comprehensive (waste) plan matters to all of us.” - Article by Linda Thompson Gonzalez, Broward Sierra Group
How will we manage our 5 million tons of trash in Broward? I have been proud to see the results of three years of hard work by our local leaders in the 28-city Solid Waste Authority of Broward County (SWABC) with a master plan that avoids the looming crisis of where to put the five million tons of trash we produce annually in Broward.
This dedicated group has overcome sharp differences to develop a market-based plan that will reduce toxic emissions and better serve the health and well-being of our communities for years to come. With our one landfill and incinerator working at capacity, there is no longer any “away” for our trash.
This comprehensive plan to reduce and recycle trash will prolong the life of our existing facilities and move us closer to the state mandatory 75 percent recycling rate from the current 38 percent.
Together, our cities can achieve economies of scale to recover the market value of items like organics, yard waste, and construction-demolition debris that we now just throw away. Construction-demolition material, for example, is almost one-half of Broward’s waste flow into the landfill, yet 80 percent of it could be recovered and sold for market value.
Who benefits? With our landfill and waste-to-energy plant nearing capacity, our current fragmented system pits cities against each other for private waste contracts. The current fragmented system also contributes to residents’ confusion and distrust over the various recycling policies that result in high contamination penalties. By contrast, this multi-city plan will reduce individual city vulnerability to skyrocketing costs by leveraging the SWABC’s joint bargaining power to lock in the “most favored nation prices” on a long-term basis, with more stable rates for cities to budget in the future. This is a win-win for everybody.
SWABC’s uniform messaging across the county, (including the airport, seaport, and parks) would increase our overall recycling, reduce the single use plastics that clog our drains, and rebuild consumer trust and positive recycling practices, while maximizing our economies of scale to recover the market value of materials that are currently wasted. In short, approval of this comprehensive SWABC plan matters to all of us because it reduces costs by increasing our long-term waste contract bargaining leverage. It also sends a clear signal to businesses for investment that promotes the long-term health and economic well-being for all of us in Broward.
This is a generational decision for the essential service of solid waste management that will shape our financial stability, environmental performance, and economic vitality for the next 40 years.
To date, 25 of Broward’s 28 cities and the county have voted in favor of the plan. We need the remaining participating municipalities to vote to approve before the August deadline. The Broward Workshop, Broward Public Schools, Broward Public Library, the Museum of Science and Discovery, the Florida Panthers, and Broward Clean Air all support this plan. Please encourage your city commissioners to vote “yes.” Visit browardswa.org/master-plan-voting-schedule to see the vote schedule for the remaining cities.