Monarch Hill Renewal Energy Park in unincorporated Broward County. {Google Maps}
By David Volz
The Monarch Hill landfill is nearing capacity to dispose of post-recycled construction and demolition debris. If this space is not made available, waste will have to move out of Broward County.
Waste Management (WM) is seeking a Land Use Plan amendment for 24 acres at 2600 Wiles Road in unincorporated Broward County. At this site of the Wheelabrator North building, there was a waste-to-energy plant, which is now being demolished. It is within the 500-acre Monarch Hill Renewal Energy Park.
The Broward County Commission is scheduled to hear the land use plan amendment on its May 21 agenda. The Monarch Hill landfill has about six years of capacity remaining, and a major hurricane could use up to a year’s worth of capacity in one storm, according to Dawn McCormick, director of communications for WM.
If the landfill is not approved to use its total horizontal and vertical capacity, it must begin diverting post-recycled construction and demolition debris and bulk waste to the Okeechobee landfill. According to McCormick, this would mean additional transportation costs passed on to county, municipal, and commercial customers.
Moving this waste would pose a significant burden on the environment. According to McCormick, WM estimates it would require about 7,500 tractor truckloads a month or 90,000 loads annually, traveling 196-mile round trips to dispose of material, using 3.5 million gallons of diesel fuel and generating 39,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions.
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