Miami-Dade County is testing a new way to handle yard waste at the South Dade Landfill near Cutler Bay, where a machine turns clippings, branches and fallen trees into a charcoal-like material called biochar.
County officials say the landfills are nearly full. Some estimates put the remaining space at five to seven years. Green waste makes up almost 12% of what the county sends to landfills, and as it decomposes it releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
Fort Lauderdale-based Clean Earth Innovations received $100,000 from the Miami-Dade Innovation Authority’s Solid Waste Challenge to pilot the machine, which the company says is the only biochar unit sitting on a landfill. Chipped yard waste moves by conveyor into a rotating kiln heated to 1,400 to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The sealed, oxygen-free process produces almost no emissions and also yields a byproduct that can be turned into electricity.
Biochar can help store carbon, improve soil and crops, and filter contaminants from water. Officials said it could also help restore Biscayne Bay. Clean Earth CEO Harold Gubnitsky called it “nature’s black gold.”
Miami-Dade Solid Waste Director Aneisha Daniel said the technology could divert hundreds of thousands of tons of yard waste from landfills. Biochar is now included in the county’s newly released Zero Waste Master Plan.
