MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — Miami-Dade County is getting real about addressing its massive solid waste crisis.

The county unveiled its Zero Waste master plan, a roadmap to help all of Miami-Dade dramatically reduce and divert the enormous amount of trash it sends to landfills.

“We have to reduce our waste,” said Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. “We have to divert, we have to reuse, compost, recycle, all of the above, because it’s not sustainable.”

Right now, Miami-Dade generates 5 million tons of garbage a year — about twice the national average. And with remaining landfill space expected to run out in the next five years, the clock is ticking.

Miami-Dade’s Zero Waste master plan aims to tackle the crisis head-on. Four years in the making, the plan calls for more than 30 strategies that will more than double the recycling rate from 36% to 77% over the next 13 years.

“We have already improved our contamination rate of recycling substantially, from 50% to 36% that’s being diverted,” said Levine Cava. “With this plan, we’ll reach almost 80%. We’ve already aligned our municipalities, now 80% of people in Miami-Dade County are using the same the same guidelines for recycling.”

Composting is a critical tool to help the county achieve its goal.

Randy Russell, a zero waste planner with WSP, said, “When you look at 30% of what’s going into the landfill is organic material, yard debris, food scraps that doesn’t need to be buried and has embodied energy and resources. No, you need to have compost.”

Right now, composting in Miami-Dade is largely limited to pilot programs testing whether it can be expanded countywide. Meantime, other strategies include turning yard waste into biochar — a charcoal-like material that enriches soil, retains moisture and locks away carbon instead of it ending up in a landfill. All of this is helping propel Miami-Dade into a greener tomorrow.

“It will also reduce approximately 1.74 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions,” said Levine Cava. “Ladies and gentlemen, I don’t care what they say; that matters.”

Aneisha Daniel, director for Miami-Dade County Solid Waste, said, “It’s important that we look for alternative technologies so that we can actually make sure that we have a sustainable future.”

A key piece of the plan relies on Miami-Dade’s travel and tourism industry. As one of the largest economic drivers, it’s also one of the biggest waste generators, making hotels, restaurants and meeting spaces essential partners in achieving zero waste.

“We have about 21 million visitors,” said Rolando Aedo, COO of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau. “So if you do the math, that’s approximately 60,000 visitors on any given day. That’s practically larger than 24 of our 34 cities in Miami-Dade County.”

The Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau is mobilizing area hotels to earn Green Key certification, helping the industry reduce waste, conserve resources and operate more sustainably.

“So we understand the responsibility that we have as an industry to be part of this plan and to lead the way, and that’s why we launched that partnership with Green Key Global,” said Aedo.

The zero waste strategy aligns with what environmental and conservation groups have championed for years to reduce the massive amount of trash polluting our natural spaces.

“And so this really is going to require an effort by everyone, because if we don’t manage our waste properly, it’s going to end up in our oceans,” said Dave Doebler, co-founder of VolunteerCleanup.org.

That’s right, South Florida. The plan only works if all of us get on board. This is on all of us.

“The EPA sets it at a 90% diversion rate; is considered zero waste,” said Russell.

Said Levine Cava: “This is only one planet, no planet B. We have to take care of her.”

County officials say reaching these goals will require more than new programs, it will require changing habits.

The county plans an aggressive public education campaign, but if residents repeatedly contaminate their recycling, officials say they could lose their recycling carts or even face fines.

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