What do rats, foul odors, and a rising tide of public frustration have in common? They all ride the rails from Miami-Dade to unsuspecting communities hundreds of miles away. In a misguided attempt to manage its waste crisis, Miami-Dade County is shipping hundreds of thousands of tons of trash by train through Fort Pierce to a landfill in Okeechobee— and the consequences for these communities are unacceptable. They hoped no one would notice the stench.
Well, people are noticing.
When the Miami-Dade waste facility in Doral was damaged by fire in 2023, it exposed a critical vulnerability in the county’s waste infrastructure. Rather than accelerating a modern, long-term solution, county officials turned to a temporary fix: shipping thousands of tons of garbage by rail to a rural landfill. That “quick fix” has dragged on for years, and the consequences are stacking up fast.
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The result? Families in Fort Pierce now face the daily disruption of trash-filled trains that bring rats, flies, and the stench of rotting garbage. Residents report being overwhelmed by the odor. Flies swarm near the rail lines. Rats scurry between cars. And none of it is their fault.
Even more troubling is the landfill’s proximity to Lake Okeechobee, the “liquid heart” of the Everglades — Florida’s most critical and fragile ecosystem. Placing mountains of out-of-county waste near these sensitive waterways puts drinking water, wildlife, and the long-term health of the Everglades at risk. The environmental consequences of runoff, leachate, and contamination are not just local issues — they threaten the health of South Florida’s entire water system.
Local leaders are speaking out. Congressman Brian Mast has demanded an end to the trash trains, calling the situation “deplorable” and “an environmental disaster in the making.” He’s right. Miami-Dade’s trash shouldn’t be another community’s burden.
Meanwhile, some in the waste business try to spin this as a “sustainability solution.” But there’s nothing sustainable about transporting garbage over 100 miles and dumping it into someone else’s backyard at the mouth of the Everglades. This is a band-aid on a broken system, and it ignores the core problem: Miami-Dade has failed to take responsibility for its own waste.
Even the Washington Post acknowledged that Miami-Dade’s delays in replacing its facility have created ripple effects. Instead of urgently rebuilding modern waste-to-energy infrastructure, county leaders have chosen the easy way out, at the expense of rural Floridians.
Late last month, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava submitted a proposal to the Miami-Dade County Commission that names 15 landfill locations – all of which are outside of Miami-Dade County. Some proposed locations are even in the Florida Panhandle.
Why should other communities in Florida be stuck with Miami-Dade County’s trash?
Miami-Dade must do better. It’s time to fast-track the construction of a new waste-to-energy facility and stop exporting problems to areas with less political clout. Urban counties can’t continue to offload their mess onto rural Florida — not if we care about fairness, public health, or environmental responsibility.
Waste is a challenge for every growing metro area—but it can also be an opportunity. Let’s turn today’s crisis into momentum for innovation. Let’s power homes instead of polluting our environment. Let’s respect our neighbors instead of exploiting them.
And let’s stop sending Miami-Dade’s garbage on a one-way trip through someone else’s backyard.
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