Miami-Dade County has released its Zero Waste Master Plan, a roadmap to recover and divert 90% of the county's waste from landfills by 2040. The plan follows a 2022 commitment from Mayor Daniella Levine Cava to make Miami-Dade a Zero Waste County, driven by a stark reality: the county generates more than five million tons of waste a year, and landfill space is running out.
Where the County Stands Today
As of 2024, Miami-Dade diverted just 36% of its waste, about 1.87 million tons, while roughly 3.29 million tons still went to disposal. Closing that gap to 90% will require a fundamental shift in how residents, businesses, and municipalities handle materials, moving beyond the traditional "reduce, reuse, recycle" framework to also refuse, redesign, and reimagine.
31 Strategies, Four Categories
The plan lays out 31 specific strategies organized into four categories:
Rethink and Redesign – new systems and ordinances, such as a Universal Recycling and Composting Ordinance and a Save/Pay-As-You-Throw pricing model, to keep materials in circulation
Reduce and Reuse – cutting single-use materials and building reuse infrastructure, including edible food donation and market development programs
Recycle and Compost – mandatory participation and source separation rules, construction material diversion, and expanded curbside collection
Materials and Process Infrastructure – physical capacity like composting facilities, reuse warehouses, and drop-off partnerships to make the other strategies work
Of the 31 strategies, 11 are policy recommendations requiring new ordinances or administrative rules; the rest are programs or infrastructure investments. Each is assigned a Short (1–4 years), Medium (5–9 years), or Long-term (10–13 years) implementation window.
The Payoff
If fully implemented, the county estimates the strategies could divert an additional 2.1 million tons of material annually, pushing the diversion rate from 36% to an estimated 77% , short of the 90% aspirational goal but a dramatic improvement. The analysis also projects a reduction of roughly 1.74 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions once all strategies are in place.
The plan now moves to municipalities across the county, each expected to adapt the strategies to local conditions as Miami-Dade works toward becoming, in the Mayor's words, a model for a sustainable South Florida.
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