#FreeTheCompost

A running blog documenting solid waste management in Miami-Dade County.

A FIRE

The Short Story

As you may know, in 2023, the county's only incinerator burned down. This is where we used to burn most of our trash. And one day, the building also burned down along with all the trash.

But a $1.5 billion problem was left behind.

Since then, the county has witnessed scores of meetings, protests, petitions, review boards, plannings... And yet, we are still not close to beginning to know what we'll do with roughly 5 million tons of trash each year.

(Meanwhile, tax payers are paying for having their trash shipped out of state, to central Florida and even as far as Georgia).

(AI image for illustration purposes only)

WHY THIS MATTERS TO US

Food is Never Waste

With all its water content, food is the heaviest item in the waste stream. Organic matter makes up over 50% of the total!

Farms like ours have been educating on this issue and collecting food scraps for years. The benefit is not only in keeping all that heavy weight out of the waste stream, but we have also been repurposing it all for the benefit of our community:

We feed people when the food is viable. Or we then feed animals when we can. And, at the end of our path, we feed it to our worms and microbes to turn it into compost. (aka organic soil to grow beautiful things).

Until now, we have been quietly composting alongside many great, forward-looking companies, (plus the Village of Pinecrest, and the Miccosukee Indian Tribe), and we assumed that common sense would eventually lead to county-wide expansions of these types of win/win projects found in farms like ours.

We are now at a crossroads

(UPDATED August 7, 2025) Over the past 24 months, the county has been trying to decide on a path forward after the chaos brought on by the self-immolating incinerator.

After the mayor's 202 page report and a July 16 commissioner's meeting, this is where believe that we stand:

• Several commissioners and the mayor appear to support composting operations. However:

• To the heartbreak of most environmental groups, the commissioners also voted to create a new incinerator. Politically active groups are now attempting to convey to the commissioners that this is a short-sighted approach that will keep Miami Dade County from modernizing and becoming zero-waste.

• In the event that the commissioners can not be convinced that a new incinerator would be a short-sighted mistake, we are working to propose as many contemporary, zero-waste concepts [such as composting] into and around the plans for a new incinerator.

• The commissioner who was working on legislation that had language dangerous for composting farms stated that she was reworking the language and that she will have revisions likely around September. We are reservedly hopeful that there will be improvements to the previous version.

• Fertile Earth continues to be involved in providing support and information to the AG practices subcommittees. And we also continue to voice our concerns and to educate the public on the issues.

Thank you for standing with us during this critical juncture for our community!

(UPDATED Sept 2, 2025)

#FreeTheCompost originated this summer in defense of laws that were being drafted that would have been devastating for local farms, while causing chaos in the compositing community.

In late August, a revised draft of the ordinance was presented. We are grateful that it appears that the commissioners, led by Commissioner Eileen Higgins, are making a significant effort to remedy the situation. And now we enter a phase where we try to understand the minutiae of what is being proposed.

Please continue to follow #FreeTheCompost for the latest information. We encourage your ongoing support as we shift our efforts to focus on anti-incinerator advocacy, and towards promoting composting-friendly policies that support sustainable waste diversion, including but not limited to programs like "Pay as you Throw," and food-waste bans in landfills.

Our quest for engagement while we attempt to help Miami Dade County reinvent waste management continues, and our request/offer remains the same: As Miami-Dade County's leading composting farm, our team of regional, national, and international experts is ready to answer the call to help craft legislation that would benefit our entire community.

-Fertile Earth Worm Farm

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