Miami-Dade commissioners must opt for a zero-waste future instead of burning trash | Opinion

Dade must choose

Miami-Dade County commissioners must pick a side: burning garbage or preserving the environment. This week, the county should make the right decision about how it handles our garbage. It’s our garbage because we — current and former mayors — represent cities that produce Miami-Dade’s solid waste. Our residents trust that we will dispose of it in an efficient, responsible and environmentally sound way.

For decades, we have burned garbage, creating CO2 and toxic ash. We have dumped food scraps and yard waste in landfills, generating methane. These greenhouse gases have been proven to negatively impact our climate. The county has set goals to reduce them. With the incinerator having burned down and landfills nearly full, we know what we must do.

The county has hired one of the top zero waste consultants. Their philosophy encourages us to rethink garbage — not as waste, but as a resource. Instead of a Waste Department, they propose a Resource Recovery Department. While some land filling is inevitable, a zero waste landfill contains only what’s left after we recycle and compost everything recoverable from the waste stream.

A zero waste landfill produces less odor, generates less greenhouse gas and eliminates the need for an incinerator — something none of our cities want. We must allow the zero waste consultant to conduct a thorough study. We should compare our situation to communities like Austin, Texas, and Santa Barbara, California, that have moved toward zero waste.

How can we return to burning garbage without first giving viable alternatives a chance?

Choosing a new incinerator will lead to years of conflict between cities, each fighting to keep it out of their backyard. If we don’t want it in our own communities, how can we wish it upon our neighbors?

When commissioners pick a side on Feb. 19, they should choose the environment over burning garbage.

Mayor Vince Lago, Coral Gables

Mayor Rachel Streitfeld, North Bay Village

Mayor Wayne Messam, Miramar,

Former Mayor Phil Stoddard, South Miami

Former Mayor Brent Latham, North Bay Village

Former Mayor Sally Philips, South Miami

Former Mayor Cindy Lerner, Pinecrest

Low voltage

My thanks for the excellent Feb. 16 in-depth article, “FPL has a deadline to clean up salty pollution under Turkey Point. It won’t make it. What will happen?” Gigantic corporations like FPL generally strive to operate with impunity from laws and regulations that safeguard our environment.

Why?

Because these laws and regulations may impact their ability to deliver the highest possible profit margins for their investors. It is long past time that Miami-Dade County Mayor Danielle Levine Cava direct the county’s State Attorney’s Office to file a lawsuit against FPL for delaying the implementation of a clean up effort at Turkey Point Power Plant.

Doug Mayer,

president,

Stone Soup Development,

Coral Gables

Call Marie Kondo?

Re: the Feb. 16 letter, “Cleaning house.” Although I agree with the reader that some federal agencies and departments are bloated, the heavy-handed manner in which this purging is being carried out is deplorable.

Instead of sending “kudos to President Trump and DOGE head Elon Musk,” as the reader suggested, admonishments are in order, for using a chainsaw rather than a more precise instrument like a scalpel. Like the writer, I too, favor meritocracy.

Where is the merit, however, in letting Musk’s DOGE novices bulldoze the dismantling of our government? Have they earned that right? How does Musk’s interference square with the concept of meritocracy?

Let’s save the kudos for experienced, dedicated people who work to save programs like USAID, FEMA, NIH and the others. Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Pat Singleton,

Coral Gables

No on Ukraine

Ukraine is not our problem. If the United Kingdom wants to get involved, fine. Let them send their youth and military industrial complex to war. We must stop playing the police of the world. Let the fools kill each other off.

We have had a couple of “dry” periods since the end of World War II, just not all that dry. President Trump must broker a peace deal. Let us not get our boots dirty.

W.F. Cunningham III,

Fort Lauderdale

Party’s pooped

I was a Republican for 50 years. Now I am a proud Independent. Since 2016, I have been more and more disappointed in what the Republican Party has become. I am thoroughly disgusted and ashamed of Republicans in Washington, D.C. and some in our state capitol. The last straw was naming Pete Hegseth as Department of Defense Secretary. From there, it has gotten progressively worse.

I was never too politically involved, as I always trusted that my government representatives had the best interests of the public in mind. If they ran for office, it was because they cared about their constituents. How wrong have I been.

Now, I am glued to the news and any bit of information I can get because I no longer trust our Republican politicians to have the integrity, courage, wisdom, caring and common sense to run this country. Like me, there are many others.

GOP members of Congress must remind themselves that they respond first and foremost to the American public, not to Donald Trump.

Jeannette Garcia,

Miami

Consider compassion

Re: Miami Herald reporter Verónica Egui Brito’s Feb. 16 story, “A delicate balance: Doral’s leaders back Venezuelans, but avoid clashing with Trump.” Doral City Council member Rafael ✓Pineyro indicated that Venezuelans “left their country in order to escape the brutal and communist dictatorship of Hugo Chavez and now Nicolás Maduro.” Quite true, but I wonder if escaping communism is the only valid ground for special consideration.

How about brutal gang violence and political instability in Haiti, or extreme economic hardship in Guatemala? How about famine in Nigeria and Ethiopia?

Yes, as Doral resident Isabel Martin urged, let’s have compassion and support for the good Venezuelans but also for the good Haitians and the good Guatemalans and the good Nigerians, because they contribute just as much to our community.

Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Who knows who will be the asylum seekers in the future?

Blanca Hager,

Miami

Health at stake

As a physician, I am dismayed and disappointed in the four physician Republican Congressmen who voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services. The anti-vaccine movement has been growing in this country. There have now been several cases of measles reported. Measles is not an innocuous disease, as fatalities do occur.

RFK, Jr. will continue to express his groundless opinions about vaccines, which will feed into the anti-vax movement. These physician Congressmen are placing their careers above the welfare of the American people. They should know better.

Mark Osman,

Palmetto Bay

Change the subject

While I generally enjoy Miami Herald opinion writer Andres Oppenheimer’s articles, he seems fixated on criticizing every move President Trump takes. Of his last nine articles, seven have been about excoriating Trump. This included predictions of dire consequences for Americans.

We know how much he and the Miami Herald dislike Trump, but maybe he can write an article about something else, for a refreshing change.

Jeffrey Frantz,

Miami

Blundering trade

A recent news story mentioned that Israel will get three hostages in exchange for 369 criminals. It took almost a year and a half to make this deal? Three for 369?

The hostages are not criminals, they did nothing wrong. They are being traded for jailbirds that, at least some of them, will cause damage to Israel in the future. This exchange just encourages thugs around the world to kidnap good people thinking they will get a great return on them.

I haven’t seen such bad trades since the Miami Marlins gave away their best players for not much.

Mark Townsend,

Kendall

This story was originally published February 18, 2025 at 2:05 PM.