Mt. Trashmore Gets A New Name
COCONUT CREEK – Towering 200 feet above the Florida Turnpike just north of Sample Road, Waste Management's Central Disposal landfill, more commonly known as Mt. Trashmore, has stood as monument to our society's culture of waste for more than 40 years.
On Saturday, in an early Earth Day celebration, the company invited more than 15-hundred students to the facility to announce its new name which they fell is more reflective of its true purpose.
So Central Disposal is out – the Monarch Hill Renewable Energy Park is in.
"The nation has moved from a culture of 'throw it away' to one that reduces, reuses and recycles its waste and in the case of this campus, is using that waste to create clean, renewable energy," said Dawn McCormick, Community Affairs Manager for Waste Management said in a statement. "We are now so much more than a landfill, and we felt it was time to recognize that in a new name and celebrate it with our local students during our Earth Day event."
When the facility opened in 1965 as one of the first waste facilities in South Florida owned and developed by Wayne Huizenga. While it takes in approximately 35-hundred tons of waste each day, it also processes up to 2,250 tons of trash per day turning it into enough electricity to power nearly 40,000 homes. The facility also produces methane gas which powers turbines to provide power to additional 9,000 homes.
"We have a great environmental and renewable energy story to tell and the new name captures the essence of our efforts in South Florida," said McCormick.
To mark the name change, a new monument sign will be erected at the intersection of Powerline Road and Wiles Road. Along both roads the company recently planted more than 500 new native Oak trees, Royal Palms and Bismarck Palms, as well as 200 butterfly attracting vines along its perimeter walls, as part of its site beautification efforts.
Who says 'trash' has to look trashy.
