Miami-Dade County wins nearly $1.9 million EPA grant for new waste vehicles that reduce diesel emissions

The U.S. 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. According to the DSWM, the grant will help fund the purchase of vehicles that are expected to reduce diesel emissions significantly over older, similar vehicles in the department’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,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava says. “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.”

“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,’” DSWM Director Michael Fernandez says.

The EPA grant will partially cover 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.

“We’re looking forward to putting these new trucks into service as well as [having] cleaner air in Miami-Dade County,” Fernandez says.