FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Large patches of what will become stinky shoreline seaweed, stretching from the west coast of Africa to just off the southern coast of Cuba, has made its way to South Florida and local leaders are getting ready.
Sargassum seaweed plagues many beaches around the world and it is increasingly being seen as a resource to improve the soil.
In the ocean, the seaweed serves as a floating nursery for a variety of marine species.
The problems happen when it comes on shore. If not cleaned up properly, it can shade out corals and sea grass and create near-shore dead zones as it decays.
As a result of this, Fort Lauderdale crews are out daily, scooping up the fresh sargassum from the beaches.
They take truckloads of it to a park where the city repurposes it and by the time it decomposes, it has very little smell and becomes fertile soil.
“This started out at a 90% increase for the first couple months of the year,” said Fort Lauderdale Park Operation Superintendent Mark Almy.
Almy told Local 10 News the seaweed washing in has tapered off at the moment, but there’s still a collection of it once a day, every day.
Where does it go?
For the past 15 years, Fort Lauderdale has found a way to turn this smelly trash into treasure.
A Local 10 News crew was at Synder Park Wednesday where Fort Lauderdale crews were seen after composting the seaweed into fresh soil.
Almy said that his team had a renovation project at Sistrunk Boulevard where they used seaweed soil to cover up damaged areas.
According to officials, composting has been saving Fort Lauderdale about $350,000 per year.
“When I started with the beach project, we had to pay up to $500 a load to get rid of one load of seaweed and it was costing us $3,000 to $4,000 a day in dump fees. Now, we don’t pay anything, and we get the benefit of return with black dirt,” Almy said.
The soil also benefits residents.
That dirt is available for free pick up by the public at Snyder Park in Fort Lauderdale, located at 3299 SW 4th Ave.
Fort Lauderdale is the only city in the entire state that holds registration for composting seaweed.