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The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently awarded the Miami-Dade County Department of Solid Waste Management (DSWM) a grant totaling $1,852,500 for the purchase of 25 new waste hauling vehicles.
The grant will help fund the purchase of vehicles that are expected to reduce diesel emissions significantly over older, similar vehicles in the DSWM’s fleet. The grant was awarded under the EPA’s Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) program, whose stated purpose is “to support the (EPA) Administrator’s goal of a clean and healthy environment and clean air.”
“I’m committed to making Miami-Dade County a cleaner, greener community, and that includes looking for opportunities to become more energy efficient across county buildings and operations,” said Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.
“This grant from the EPA is an important step forward to build a more sustainable Department of Solid Waste Management, reducing emissions and protecting our environment as we serve our neighborhoods,” the mayor added.
“We are very pleased with this award, which will enable us to continue living out our mission statement, which states in part that we will ‘provide our customers with exceptional waste collection and disposal… services that protect, preserve, and improve our environment and the quality of life in our community,’” said DSWM director Michael Fernandez.
The EPA grant will cover partially DSWM’s planned purchase of 23 automated side loader waste collection trucks and two truck tractors for hauling waste to its final disposal site.
The new vehicles should be delivered during the summer of 2022. After a brief training period with the new trucks for both drivers and mechanics, the vehicles will be placed into service.
The vehicles (especially the waste collection trucks), which will be driven hundreds of miles each week, will be placed on routes that serve children, the elderly and minorities. The goal is to reduce diesel emissions in these neighborhoods.
“We’re looking forward to putting these new trucks into service as well as cleaner air in Miami-Dade County,” Fernandez said.
For information about the EPA’s DERA program, visit www.epa.gov/dera.
The DSWM provides curbside waste and recycling collection services to more than 350,000 households in unincorporated Miami-Dade County and nine municipalities, including Aventura, Cutler Bay, Doral, Miami Gardens, Miami Lakes, Opa-locka, Palmetto Bay, Pinecrest and Sunny Isles Beach.
For more information about the DSWM, visit miamidade.gov/solidwaste.
