In Miami Beach, there are a few options for residents interested in composting. Residents can drop off food waste to be composted at two locations: Miami Beach Botanical Garden and the North Beach Composting Hub. Between 2016 and 2021, the Miami Beach Botanical Garden community compost hub has diverted about 175,000 pounds of food waste from the waste stream.
In addition, the City of Miami Beach and Miami-Dade County have held workshops with University of Florida Institute of Food and Agriculture Sciences (UF/IFAS) to teach interested community members how to compost at home and provide a voucher for a free backyard compost bin. As part of the 2022 Miami Beach Rising Above grant, Surfrider, a non-profit organization, received a grant to implement a backyard composting program. The backyard composting program, which will begin in the coming months, will distribute composting bins for backyard composting and include community outreach and education.
At the Sustainability Committee on March 31, 2022, the Committee discussed the limitations of community composting programs, including restricting access to residents only and limiting the amount of food waste that can be diverted due to limited space. The Committee passed a motion urging the City to signal its support to Miami-Dade County for the construction of a commercial composting facility and furthermore, the development of a curbside compost pickup program for residents and businesses.
Commercial composting facilities, also called industrial composting, are large-scale composting facilities which are designed to accept and manage a large volume of organic waste. There are several processes that can be utilized in commercial comporting including windrows, in-vessel, aerated static pile composting. All commercial composting processes reach required temperatures to destroy any pathogens.
- Windrows: open-air process where organic waste is piled into long rows and is regularly watered and turned to aerate the pile.
- In-vessel: process that takes place in an enclosed environment where organic waste is deposited into a vessel and conditions such as temperature, airflow, and moisture can be controlled.
- Aerated static pile: organic waste is mixed and piled with materials such as woodchips and newspapers on top of pipes which aerates the pile.
Athens-Clarke County in Georgia established a county wide composting program in 2011 for their population of 130,000 residents. To service the size of their county, they utilize a five-acre pad for composting biosolids and food waste and five acres for tree and plant debris. The area needed for a retention pond, equipment storage area, and gate increases the approximate total of land used for the county’s composting program to 12 acres. This program has been highly successful and showcases an example of the sizing requirements for a large-scale composting program.
Miami-Dade County Department of Solid Waste Management provides waste collection and recycling services to unincorporated Miami-Dade County and several cities across the county. Several cities, including Miami Beach, have inter-local agreements with Miami-Dade County for curbside recycling services. The County owns and operates three landfills and three Regional Transfer Stations for waste disposal, along with one Resources Recovery Facility which produces waste-to-energy that is exported to the electric grid. The County does not currently own or operate a commercial compost facility.
The size requirements for a commercial composting facility can vary depending on the number and type of participants, volume of waste to be serviced, and composting method.
There are smaller scale composting programs available in the region where vendors are paid to receive or pick up food waste for composting. For example, food scraps can be dropped off at Verde Market locations for $3 per drop off, and weekly or bi-weekly pickups can be requested through Compost for Life for $29.99/month or $19.99/month respectively. Compost for Life also provides service to businesses and special events which includes cart to collect food scraps.
Many municipalities and states have set food diversion targets and implemented composting programs to help them achieve their climate goals. These composting programs are supported by policies such as mandatory collection of organic waste and organic waste disposal bans.
- California SB1383: all businesses and individuals are required to divert yard waste and food waste from the waste stream.
- Vermont Universal Recycling Lay requires the diversion of food waste from the waste stream.
- Seattle, WA Food Waste Requirements state that food waste cannot be disposed of in the garbage, it must be diverted from the waste stream.