Waste Management Halts Request To Inject ‘Garbage Juice’ Into Ground

Waste Management Requests Halt On Injection Project

BROWARD COUNTY, Fla.- Waste Management has pulled back on their request to inject “garbage juice” into the ground at a landfill in Coconut Creek.
Waste Management asked the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to pause their application so they could have more “time to evaluate other options including alternative disposal sites,” said a letter written by Bryan Tindell, a Waste Management director, per the Sun Sentinel.

The company has sent its leachate- the liquid that drains from waste in the landfill- by pipes to Broward County to be treated then disposed of underground in an injection well about a mile away for decades.

Waste Managements plan was to seek a permit to build its own well, with the option of allowing outside agencies to truck in the leachate. Of course that brought the heat from environmentalists who were concerned of untreated toxins being leaked that would tamper the water supply.

There was also concern shown from Coconut Creek city commissioners who said the proposal could mean too many trucks carrying in outside leachate to Monarch Hill, also known as “Mount Trashmore.”

Broward County and Waste Management had reached a tentative deal to stop the deep-well injection project in September. A spokeswoman for Waste Management said its contract with the county was scheduled to end in December, but both sides are discussing long-term agreements.

Mark Bogan, Broward County Commissioner, said they had a “verbal understanding” to stop the injection project from moving forward. The County Commission would have to vote on a proposed settlement sometime in October.

The plan is for the county to continue to treat and dispose of the leachate and Bogen said he had advocated “the county extend the deal that has worked well for both sides… way into the future.”

Environmentalist groups such as “Friends of Hollywood,” say they are happy to hear of the developments, as they weren’t in favor of the proposal, said the Sun Sentinel.