The Sanitation Division is responsible for the maintenance and emptying of over 1,800 garbage and recycling containers Citywide. The servicing of these containers is provided by Sanitation staff. There are also two dedicated commercial service routes provided by two of the City's commercial franchise haulers.
Waste Connections of Florida, Inc. and Waste Management Inc. of Florida are responsible for emptying over 75% of the containers Citywide, with the exception of the Mixed Use Entertainment (MXE), the Beachwalk/Boardwalk, the beach, and Miami Beach Recreation Center (MBRC). The franchise haulers empty these containers once a day, 7 days per week.
In addition, Sanitation has a 5-day a week afternoon route that supplements the haulers efforts in the high volume neighborhoods such as Flamingo, South of 5th Street, Mid-Beach 41st Street areas, Normandy Island and North Collins Avenue, from 63rd Street to 87th Street, including Ocean Terrace.
Sanitation staff is dedicated to the MXE, which services containers approximately 4 times a day, 7 days a week, from 6am to 11pm. Frequencies are increased during high impact weekends, special events, and holidays.
The Can on Every Corner Program was originally intended to be implemented Citywide. However, after further consideration, it was determined it was not cost effective or efficient to place one can on every corner of the City. Instead, the Flamingo Area became the focus of this program.
The Flamingo Area was further analyzed, and it was determined that there was too much illegal use of containers by multi family residences, and an abundance of illegal dumping. Additionally, after reviewing many locations in the Flamingo Area, it was determined that the corners and sidewalk posed significant challenges due to their width and ADA compliance issues. This made the installation of containers extremely difficult and not feasible.
In the past four years, the Sanitation Division has added hundreds of new containers Citywide. Some of these areas include Flamingo, South of 5th Street, West Avenue and Alton Road, Belle Island, the Venetian Causeway, Mid-Beach, and North Beach. In addition, new containers were added to all of the new sections of the Beachwalk and the North Beach Corridor, as well as the 71st Street Fountain, and Pocket Parks throughout the City.