A bigger Broward landfill whose peak may reach 325 feet? Debate ensues over site’s growth

The debate over whether Broward’s landfill should be taller by 100 feet — and wider, too — is coming to a vote within months.

And Waste Management warns that if its plans don’t go through, it will be forced to truck garbage elsewhere, which will come at a price increase for residents.

Broward County commissioners said they will hear the petition by Waste Management for the expansion at the Monarch Hill Renewable Energy Park, located at 2700 Wiles Road.

Monarch Hill, known as “Mount Trashmore” by some locals through the years, is a 1965-era landmark that can be seen from miles away, sitting in an unincorporated part of Broward County.

In 2021, Waste Management warned it needed to expand both horizontally and vertically.

Then in 2022, Waste Management told county officials the current landfill only has enough space to take in trash for another eight or nine years and so the expansion is needed. It now says, effective January 2024, about six years are now left before it is at capacity.

But in October 2022, Broward’s Planning Council turned it away, writing “we cannot recommend expansion of any landfill facilities within Broward County at this time.”

Seeking expansion

Waste Management now goes straight to the County Commission, with a hearing expected in either August or September. As the property owner, Waste Management is legally entitled to the hearing, said County Commissioner Beam Furr.

Waste Management is seeking two expansions at the Monarch Hill landfill that will extend its use for 16 additional years.

One request is to go taller. Currently, the landfill is at 210 feet and approved to peak at 225 feet. Waste Management wants the OK to reach 325 feet for the peak; the landfill is constructed like a pyramid with a wide base.

“It’s not a block of cheese,” said Waste Management spokeswoman Dawn McCormick. “The only part you see is the 325 feet at the top.”

The second request by Waste Management is to convert the former waste-to-energy incinerator’s approximate 24.2 acres to additional landfill space, which would be a 5.6% increase.

The landfill stopped using that section of the property that burned the waste in 2015, blaming a lack of trash when 10 Broward cities decided to go elsewhere. That angered some nearby city leaders, who said there has always been enough trash, and accused Waste Management of having simmering plans.

Coconut Creek Commissioner Josh Rydell said he thinks it’s “a well-orchestrated series of events.”

“I think this has been in the works since 2015 and they laid in wait. Then come back to the county, ‘We want to increase the footprint and we want to increase the height.’ ”

Prior to the closure, when the county and 10 cities first decided to truck their waste elsewhere, Waste Management fought those plans because there would not be enough waste to operate that plant, McCormick said.

At the time, Waste Management spoke in favor of keeping the system in place, McCormick said.

Still, Rydell fears that if the two requests are approved this year, the landfill expansion could have consequences for surrounding cities.

“This is a matter of great health and safety that our government needs to genuinely care about,” Rydell said. “This is a matter of great public importance.”

Waste Management is already sweetening its offer to the county, promising to truck the 175,000 tons of household garbage Broward creates each year elsewhere. The corporate giant owns the Okeechobee Landfill, two hours from Broward.

That’s food and dirty diapers — everything that gets thrown away from residents’ homes. That’s the “waste stream most likely to cause an odor or (nuisance) birds,” McCormick said.

Household garbage makes up about 10% of the landfill, the remaining 90% is generally construction debris and bulk waste including “post-recycled concrete.”

Looking ahead

Commissioner Furr likes the ideas of household organics shipped off to Okeechobee. Keeping organics, such as food waste, out of the landfill, eliminates greenhouse gases, methane and “the stinky stuff” for Broward, he said.

“That’s the low-hanging fruit we can all deal with,” he said. “We’re trying to take organics out of landfills.”

But, there’s a warning from Waste Management that a refusal to expand means Broward will pay with its pockets.

“If Waste Management is not allowed to maximize horizontal and vertical capacity at the landfill, in late 2024 we’re going to have to start diverting construction debris and bulk waste to Okeechobee,” McCormick said.

That will mean an increased cost to Broward customers of $40 million annually, according to a Waste Management presentation document provided by the company. It would pay for the gas and the hauling and cost for tractor-trailers to make the trek, McCormick said.

“It’s a long trip to Okeechobee and back,” she said.

Waste Management also would stop accepting storm debris. The landfill received one year’s worth of volume in just four months after Hurricane Irma in 2017.

“The reason is we just don’t have the capacity, we’re running out of capacity,” McCormick said.

And “that has a huge environmental burden and economic burden for our municipal customers,” she said. “Where are they going to bring their material? We’re not the problem, we’re part of the solution.”

While a final decision over the landfill expansion looms, most of Broward’s cities have been crafting plans of their own.

On Friday, the executive committee of the Broward County Solid Waste Authority, formerly known as the Broward County Solid Waste and Recycling Working Group, hired a consulting firm to develop a master plan, now due within the next eight months. The master plan will address all options of trash, recycling and organics and make recommendations what facilities need to built.

As Waste Management asks to get larger, the Solid Waste Authority said it is looking for ways to keep trash out of the landfill, said Cooper City Mayor Greg Ross, the authority’s chair.

“I think the county would be wise to listen to what the master plan has to say,” Ross said.

And rather than acquiesce, county commissioners “might wait (and say,) ‘Let’s listen to the master plan,'” Ross said. The county is footing half the bill for the report, which costs more than $1.37 million.

The county’s new Solid Waste Authority is trying to tackle the lingering issue of both waste and recycling. It hired its first executive director in April, and among the considerations is potentially building some sort of facility on county-owned land off U.S. 27, near the cities of Pembroke Pines and Southwest Ranches.

That could mean a new trash incinerator on the site or new recycling plant — or nothing.

“Everything is on the table,” Ross said.

Broward’s potential incinerator in the future would be separate from a proposal currently drawing scrutiny in South Florida: Miami-Dade County is grappling with its own trash issues. Miami-Dade County leaders want a replacement incinerator for one that was destroyed in a fire, and a decision on the location could come in September.

One possible site is on the border with Miramar, which this week led Miramar’s mayor to raise the notion of a potential lawsuit in that fight.

Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at lhuriash@sunsentinel.com. Follow on X, formerly Twitter, @LisaHuriash