Composting, biochar, an app to educate residents on how to properly get rid of waste are winners of the county’s Public Innovation Challenge.
Standing on the Old South Dade landfill site, just south of the existing site, Miami-Dade County mayor Daniella Levine-Cava joined solid waste officials and the Miami-Dade Innovation Authority (MDIA) to announce the winners of the fifth challenge. The mission? Come up with solutions to divert waste from the landfills, enhance recycling efforts, and strengthen strategies to reduce waste and educate and engage residents.
“We’re running out of space in our landfills,” says Levine Cava. “Every innovative step we take helps protect our planet, reduce waste and create a cleaner, more sustainable future for generations to come.”
The three winning companies are Fertile Earth Worm Farm, which creates high-quality soil blends from compost; Clean Earth Innovations, which produces nutrient-rich biochar from organic waste; and Scrapp, developers of a mobile app to educate and engage residents about proper waste disposal practices.
Miami-Dade County produces over five million tons of waste annually. And only 37 percent of the county’s waste is actually recycled, with an approximately 39.9 percent contamination rate, according to Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP).
“Miami-Dade’s new waste mandates require at least a 40 percent reduction in waste sent to landfills, and such a substantial portion could be composted or reused,” says Leigh-Ann Buchanan, president and CEO of MDIA.
For the challenge, MDIA looked for early-to-growth stage startup companies with innovative solutions to enhance waste diversion efforts in Miami-Dade County. Collaborators included Miami-Dade County’s Office of Innovation and Economic Development (OIED), Department of Solid Waste Management (DSWM), and the Solid Waste Association-North America. Finalists receive a $100,000 equity investment and get to test and validate their solution at the Department of Solid Waste Management.
