County-owned venues like Miami International Airport, PortMiami, parks, and office buildings will eliminate single-use plastics and styrofoam after Miami-Dade Commissioners agreed on Wednesday that they should sell aluminum bottles or cans and serve food on washable ceramic or compostable plates instead.
This move is just the latest step in a longstanding battle between local governments and the state over attempts to ban single-use plastics. Miami-Dade officials hope that the successful elimination and implementation of substitutes will inspire more private businesses to voluntarily follow the county’s lead to reduce plastics that have proven harmful to the health of humans and the environment.
“We’re going to be showing America, our residents, the world, whoever visits, that it is possible to transition away from single-use plastics to items that are better for the environment,” said Miami-Dade County Commissioner Eileen Higgins, who championed the proposal. “Whenever you come to a county facility, which could be a park, could be the zoo, could be the airport, could be the seaport, you’re not going to see plastic. We’re going to be leading by example.”
The county passed the resolution with the support of 10 out of 12 commissioners, but exceptions will be made for grab-and-go snacks or candy bars and will only apply to future contracts.
A Warm Welcome
Environmental activists welcomed the Miami-Dade Commissioners’ resolution, believing it sends a valuable signal that the county cares about the environment.
“These are nasty chemicals that are bad for human health, and they are bad for the environment,” said Dave Doebler, co-founder of VolunteerCleanup, which has helped remove 800,000 pounds of trash from beaches and parks in South Florida since 2013. “paper products, compostable products, aluminum products, they look better, they feel better.”
The Harmful Impact of Plastic
While more convenient, industries producing plastic products in the US create 35.7 million tons of plastic each year. Still, according to the Department of Energy, only 5 percent of all plastics are recycled.
As recycling rates continue to drop yearly, the remaining plastic ends up in incinerators or landfills, polluting storm drains, rivers, and oceans. It breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces that have later been found in breast milk, human brains, lungs, and testicles.
Unfortunately, the amount of waste produced is expected to grow from around 2.5 million tons this year to 2.9 million tons by 2028, leading experts and activists to argue that simply burning trash isn’t the only option.
“The trick is reducing and diverting waste,” Dave Doebler, co-founder of VolunteerCleanup, said. Simply put, he said, “the less volume we have to deal with, the less we need to incinerate or throw in a landfill,” which means the less that ends up in Biscayne Bay or as toxins in your body.
Miami-Dade volunteers gather regularly to try to make a difference, combing the beaches and parks for plastic bottles and bags. Most of these are designed for just a few minutes of use and cannot be recycled even if they make it into a recycling bin.
“People are not aware of how it could affect not just us individuals, but the animals that live here,” said Gabriella Wright, a 16-year-old who has passed up sleepovers and hangouts with friends since she was six to gather trash instead. While Wright has inspired her friends and family to be more environmentally friendly, policies that help support waste-reduction efforts are crucially needed.
A Lack of State Support
Florida’s state legislators have taken different courses of action. In 2008, the state passed a preemption that restricts the right of local governments to regulate plastic, including “containers, wrappings, or disposable bags.”
Earlier this year, the state legislature considered further protecting plastics derived from fossil fuels like oil and gas with a bill that would have prevented local governments from passing measures restricting their use under public contracts. That bill quickly died, though, after environmental groups’ protests.
However, local governments have yet to be deterred from banning plastic. Miami Beach and Broward County have passed similar resolutions to the one that Miami-Dad will now implement.
