Miami-Dade Innovation Authority Launches Fifth Public Innovation Challenge to Optimize Waste Diversion

Initiative to award at least $300,000 to early-to-growth stage companies focused on enhancing waste diversion and driving resident education and engagement

Miami-Dade Innovation Authority (MDIA) today launched its fifth Public Innovation Challenge, a pioneering initiative that is part of Miami-Dade County’s overall waste diversion efforts. In collaboration with the Miami-Dade County Department of Solid Waste Management (DSWM), this challenge invites local and global early-to-growth stage companies to submit innovative solutions that will enhance and strengthen strategies to divert and reduce waste, and educate and engage residents. Piloting the innovative technologies proposed in the Public Innovation Challenge will inform and complement the development of the County's Zero Waste Master Plan, a comprehensive plan that will set a path forward to divert, reduce or reuse overall waste in our community.

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MDIA's fifth Public Innovation Challenge invites early-to-growth stage companies to submit innovative solutions to strengthen waste diversion and reduction strategies, and educate and engage residents. (Photo: Business Wire)

Starting today, the challenge will run until April 21, 2025. MDIA, in partnership with DSWM, will select at least three early-to-growth stage technology startups, providing each with $100,000 in funding to test and validate their solutions with DSWM. Interested companies are encouraged to submit their proposals through the official challenge website: mdia.miami/waste

The challenge seeks solutions that harness the power of technology to improve waste diversion efforts like recycling and organic waste reuse. These solutions should also educate and incentivize the public to participate in these efforts. They should be ready to be implemented in a pilot setting and should be scalable to ultimately meet the growing needs of DSWM.

"Reducing landfill waste and improving waste diversion is crucial in ensuring the continued health and wellbeing of Miami residents and fragile ecosystems – especially as our population continues to grow,” said Leigh-Ann Buchanan, President and CEO of MDIA. “This challenge not only provides an opportunity for startups with cutting edge solutions to make a real impact on waste diversion in Miami-Dade County, but also demonstrates our region’s leadership within the global resilience community as we invest in technologies that help improve environmental outcomes and make recycling and reuse more accessible for residents.”

Miami-Dade currently produces more than five million tons of waste annually, and, according to Florida's Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), only 37 percent of the County’s waste is actually recycled with a nearly 40 percent contamination rate. As the County’s population continues to grow, waste diversion remains a critical strategy in mitigating environmental impact. By reducing the amount of waste going to landfills, communities can conserve natural resources, decrease greenhouse gas emissions from decomposing matter, prevent soil and water contamination, and lessen the need for new resource extraction to produce new products or create new landfills. Waste diversion also provides financial benefits by extending the life of County landfills, helping delay the need for costly new landfills and ensuring the County has the capacity to manage waste generated by new development without exceeding local regulations. Waste diversion also helps reduce the environmental impact of landfill expansion by conserving land, minimizing pollution, and ensuring that resources are used more sustainably, allowing the County to better manage waste as it grows.

The challenge seeks solutions focused on several key areas of waste diversion:

• Platforms that connect residents to recycling resources such as solutions that offer educational tools about what materials are recyclable, how residents can reduce waste stream contamination and how residents might effectively reuse certain materials.
• Technologies that inform residents how to sort their waste such as applications that help residents identify recyclable materials and/or incentivize residents to effectively manage their household waste streams.
• Analytics platforms that help DSWM and residents better understand where waste is going and help the Department optimize on-site waste diversion operations.
• Waste diversion management solutions such as solutions that divert organic waste from County landfills.

"This is a game-changing moment for Miami-Dade. As our community continues to grow, we must use all the tools in our box to reimagine how we manage our waste now and in the future,” said Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. “This challenge presents a unique opportunity to leverage the know-how of the private sector to engage our residents and use innovative, cutting-edge solutions to build a smarter, more resilient waste management system that will serve our community for generations to come."

DSWM, collaborating with MDIA on this initiative, is committed to providing residents with exceptional waste collection, recycling and disposal services that protect and improve quality of life. The department’s new recycling contracts, which take effect April 1, 2025, will include trucks with new technology such as GPS systems and cameras that will enable DSWM to better identify contamination and provide opportunities for further resident engagement and education.

"As Miami-Dade continues to grow, effective waste diversion is essential to building a more sustainable community. Through this challenge, we aim to discover innovative solutions that will transform waste into opportunities for a greener future," said Miami-Dade County DSWM Director Aneisha Daniel, PhD. "This collaboration with the Miami-Dade Innovation Authority on the Public Innovation Challenge allows us to leverage cutting-edge technology to reduce waste going to landfills while also engaging and educating residents on recycling and organic waste reuse. We look forward to working with innovative startups to create impactful solutions for a more sustainable future."

To ensure the challenge benefits from diverse expertise, MDIA has enlisted subject matter experts from the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA), an organization of more than 10,000 public and private sector professionals committed to advancing from solid waste management to resource management through education, advocacy and research. SWANA brings valuable insights and experience to the initiative, further enhancing its potential impact on Miami-Dade's waste diversion strategies.

“Entrepreneurship, innovation, and technology are essential for facing current and emerging issues,” said SWANA CEO Amy Lestition Burke. “This Public Innovation Challenge will enable startup companies to share their innovative solutions for the benefit of Miami-Dade County. The solutions that come out of this project will support local goals and may also be scalable for national waste and resource management. We look forward to seeing the creative approaches that will come from this work.”

Since its 2023 launch, MDIA has launched four public challenges in collaboration with Miami-Dade County, through which it has deployed $1 million in funding and attracted more 350 startups, from 40 different countries, amassing a company pipeline network which collectively represents $6.5 billion in revenue and $1 billion in funding raised. Recognized by the International Economic Development Council, Nasdaq and Harvard Business School, MDIA aims to create a replicable model for municipalities to fast-track the procurement of technology that enables local governments to more effectively and efficiently improve quality of life in cities.

Miami-Dade County is committed to supporting the growth of diverse businesses and advocating for equitable participation of all entrepreneurs in diverse economic opportunities.

To learn more about The Miami-Dade Innovation Authority, Inc. please visit: https://www.mdia.miami.

About Miami-Dade Innovation Authority

Miami-Dade Innovation Authority bridges the gap between private innovators and the public sector to fast-track innovation that improves the quality of life for residents. Through its signature Public Innovation Challenge, it invests in and supports early-to-growth stage companies from across the globe to pilot test technology and solutions to pressing public challenges in collaboration with the economic engines within Miami-Dade County. A recipient of the International Economic Development Council’s Innovation Award and recognized as a NASDAQ venture equity featured program, MDIA aims to create a replicable blueprint that can be modeled by other municipalities around the world.

For more information, visit: https://www.mdia.miami

About the Miami-Dade Department of Solid Waste Management (DSWM)

The DSWM provides curbside waste and recycling collection services to more than 350,000 households in unincorporated Miami-Dade County and ten municipalities, including Aventura, Cutler Bay, Doral, Miami Gardens, Miami Lakes, Opa-locka, Palmetto Bay, Pinecrest, Sunny Isles Beach, and Sweetwater. For additional details about the DSWM, please visit miamidade.gov/solidwaste.

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