Recycling faces a big overhaul in Broward, as most cities back creating new system

Most of Broward’s cities have now voted to create a new taxing authority that will be tasked with handling the disposal of trash and recycling.

As the county tries to cull support for its ambitions to keep more garbage out of the landfill, Pembroke Pines was the last to vote on whether to join the consortium, voting unanimously Wednesday night against the move. That makes three holdout cities: Hallandale Beach previously voted against joining, and Pompano Beach, which refused to vote at all earlier this summer, won’t be part of the plan.

“We wish them well coming up with a plan,” said Pembroke Pines Commissioner Angelo Castillo. “Problems should have a proposed solution before we get involved how to pay for it.”

All of Broward’s remaining 28 cities, and the county, have joined, from the largest city of Fort Lauderdale to the smallest town of Lazy Lake which has 26 people. The first vote was earlier this year.

Next up for those participating: Each city will appoint an elected official to a delegation, which will become the official governing body. That group will select an executive committee from among them, making sure cities of all sizes are represented. Then, that committee will hire an executive director, auditor and attorney.

For the public: Eventually, the plan is for residents to have a new way to handle recycling, without depending solely on Waste Management unless they choose to have a lease or a contract. On their own, the reasoning goes, the cities can control recycling and limit what goes into the landfill, and decide where their waste ends up.

That could mean another incinerator in the southern end of the county, or something else. And new taxes could appear on property tax bills to pay for it all, although that isn’t expected anytime soon.

Any new facility could potentially be built on county-owned land off U.S. 27, near the cities of Pembroke Pines and Southwest Ranches. Cooper City Mayor Greg Ross, who is the group’s chairman, said it is projected to cost “over a billion dollars.”

The debate of how to handle trash and especially recycling has been an ongoing saga.

Although plans had been talked about for years but stalled, in 2020, city leaders put new emphasis into their committee called the Broward County Solid Waste and Recycling Working Group. They were unhappy with Waste Management’s service after the company announced it would no longer accept mixed-paper to recycle.

Waste Management had complained residents were improperly recycling, and there was a global disinterest in purchasing the poor-quality recycled goods to drop paper recycling, which includes newspapers, magazines and mail. After community outrage, Waste Management quickly reversed course.

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In November, it announced plans to invest $75 million to construct a new recycling plant on a 12-acre parcel in Pembroke Pines. Construction will begin early next year, and open in the spring of 2025.

But all the efforts came too late. County and city officials said they were still committed to creating their own waste and recycling system, and don’t have the burden of a private company that needs to turn profits.

County Commissioner Beam Furr, who is the group’s vice chairman, said government doesn’t have the same financial burden as a private company: “We feel we might be able to recycle more things because we don’t have to make a profit, we just have to break even.”

Glass, for example, can be recycled and kept out of the landfill, but private companies often shy away because there’s no money in it, Furr said. And, “we can probably figure out a way to do composting.”

With enough of Broward’s cities casting yes votes, a delegation will be named in September, starting the process toward a taxing district and a plan how to recycle.

A spokeswoman for Waste Management declined comment.

The cities that didn’t join said they were OK with their decision.

Pompano Beach Mayor Rex Hardin said there was “no reason to take a vote” since in June the “commission considered the item and no one chose to move it forward.”

“So we are just not part of it at this stage of the game,” Hardin said.

In Pembroke Pines, Commissioner Castillo was opposed to joining.

“This Solid Waste Working Group has been meeting for six years and has not come up with a plan, the same group of people are now saying ‘make us into a taxing authority and we will come up with a plan in the next 12-36 months’ and I don’t buy that logic. I think that what we want to do for the county is come up with a plan and then come up with a plan how to pay for it.”

Creating the board first is “a public policy cocktail that I can’t recommend anyone swallow.”

He said he would prefer a taxing authority be approved by voters on a ballot “rather than municipal fiat.”

Those cities can decide on their own which hauler takes their trash, and where it ends up, Ross said.

Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at [email protected]. Follow on Twitter @LisaHuriash