LTC 295-2004 Illegal Waste Dumping
CITY OF MIAMI BEACH
Office of the City Manager
Letter to Commission No. 295-2004
m
From:
Mayor David Dermer and
Members of the City comm~iSSion
Jorge M. Gonzalez ~~
City Manager (
ILLEGAL WASTE UMPING
Date: November 19, 2004
To:
Subject:
As directed by the Commission on October 15, 2003 the Community Materials Recovery
Facility (MRF) located in Middle Beach stopped accepting effective January 2, 2004,
construction and demolition debris and bulk waste defined as: household furniture,
household trash, remodeling and home repair trash, and white goods. The MRF was
collecting an average of 132 tons of bulk waste per month, 87 tons of construction and
demolition debris, and 89 ton of green waste. As I committed at the October 15, 2003,
Commission meeting this letter provides information regarding the amounts of increased
illegal dumping we have experienced in our City, especially in North Beach since the
closure of the MRF.
In 2003, the Public Works Department Sanitation Division collected from City streets and
alleys on the average around 140 tons of illegally dumped bulk waste per month at a cost
of $12,200 per month. In the first 10 months of 2004, Sanitation has collected on the
average around 217 tons of illegally dumped bulk waste per month at a cost of $21,450 per
month. This represents an increase of about 85 tons per month of illegally dumped bulk
waste, representing an increase of $9,090 per month or projected to be an increase in cost
to the Sanitation fund of over $109,067 per year. In addition 4,100 cubic yards of hurricane
debris was collected during the month of September.
As a way of mitigating the impact of closing the MRF the City partnered with Browning
Ferris International (BFI) the City's residential solid waste collection contractor, and
established a program called Neighborhood Pride Weekend. Under this program BFI and
Waste Management of Dade provide 20 cubic yard containers in North Beach and South
Beach, where bulk waste can be disposed free of charge on the first weekend of every
month. The program started with one container at both location but the need of North
Beach recently forced the program to expand from one to five 20 cubic yard containers at
the 75th Street collection point. The South Beach location at 6th Street has remained fairly
constant and only demands one 20 cubic yard container. The current total volume of bulk
waste being collected on the first weekend of every month is around 120 cubic yards,
equivalent to around 20 tons of waste by weight.
Other mitigating measures taken by the Administration include:
Enhanced Code Compliance efforts;
I ncreased Police enforcement;
Partnership with Teen Job Corp; and
Include in the current Request for Proposals for Residential Solid Waste Collection
an add alternate bid item to provide a monthly bulk pick up vice the four pick ups a
year provided under the current contract
For your information, in order to obtain a permit for the facility, as part of a consent
agreement with DERM, the City just completed the screening of the existing berm soil at a
cost of $161,000. In addition to the berm screening costs, the total estimated cost to
permit and make construction improvements to operate a Green Waste Facility only, is
$200,000.
Reopening of the MRF to accept bulk waste will require us to obtain a waiver from the
Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP). We anticipate incurring legal fees
to obtain this waiver in the amount of $50,000. In addition, we expect to incur construction
costs in the range of $500,000 to $750,000 to make modifications to the facility. This
construction estimate is only an order of magnitude estimate based on previous
discussions with the County Department of Environmental Management and FDEP, it is not
an engineering estimate based on a basis of design criteria.
There is a demonstrated increase in illegal dumping that has occurred since the bulk waste
option was removed from our waste facility. Efforts to mitigate have only been partially
effective to date. We will continue to monitor and report back to the Commission on the
growing illegal dumping issue. Further, we will continue to adjust our mitigation measures
to address this problem.
Unless I hear from you differently and since the current direction from the Commission is to
use the facility for green waste only, I intend to obtain an operating permit from DERM for a
Green Waste Facility.
Please feel fr~~ontact me if you have any other concerns or questions.
JMG\RCM\~
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