If you regularly commute near CSX rail lines in the area, expect longer delays for the next several years,
Plans are under way to send 5,000 tons a week of garbage from Miami-Dade County by rail through the area to a private landfill in Bushnell in Sumter County.
That means an extra 50 rail cars a week on northbound freight trains. through at least 2032.
The move comes after Miami-Dade officials continue looking for ways to get rid of their trash after a trash incinerator that was handling a lot of the volume residents and businesses generated burned down in 2023 and public opposition from various groups including Sierra Club has blocked plans to build a new incinerator.
Sierra’s position is that Miami-Dade officials should do more to reduce the need for more waste disposal by focusing on more recycling, and composting.
But since that’s not happening, and Miami-Dade has limited landfill space the trash trains are seen as an alternative.
That approach reportedly has caused a backlash from rural residents in Sumter County who live near the Heart of Florida landfill, which is building a rail siding to receive the shipments.
The residents are reportedly concerned about increased odors and the impact on their wells from a plan to use deep well injection to get rid of the landfill’s [leachate.
Just in case you were wondering, Polk County’s North Central Landfill has adequate capacity for the next 100 years or so after the County Commission approved a plan in 2000 to allow the landfill height to increase significantly.
Its leachate is treated in series of on-site ponds.