Monarch Hill Renewable Energy Park, colloquially known as Mount Trashmore, is a

landfill A landfill site, also known as a tip, dump, rubbish dump, garbage dump, or dumping ground, is a site for the disposal of waste materials. Landfill is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of the waste ...

site located in an unincorporated area of northern

Broward County, Florida Broward County ( , ) is a county in the southeastern part of Florida, located in the Miami metropolitan area. It is Florida's second-most populous county after Miami-Dade County and the 17th-most populous in the United States, with over 1.94 m ...

, bordered by the cities of

Pompano Beach Pompano Beach ( ) is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. It is located along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, just north of Fort Lauderdale. The nearby Hillsboro Inlet forms part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. As of the 2020 ...

, Coconut Creek, and

Deerfield Beach Deerfield Beach is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States, just south of the Palm Beach County line. The city is named for the numerous deer that once roamed the area. As of the 2020 census, the population was 86,859. It is a principal ...

, alongside the east side of

Florida's Turnpike Florida's Turnpike, designated as unsigned State Road 91 (SR 91), is a toll road in the U.S. state of Florida, maintained by Florida's Turnpike Enterprise (FTE). Spanning approximately along a northwest–southeast axis, the turnpike is in two s ...

between mile markers 69 and 70. It is owned by

Waste Management, Inc. Waste Management, Inc., doing business as WM, is a waste management, comprehensive waste, and environmental services company operating in North America. Founded in 1968, the company is headquartered in the Bank of America Tower in Houston, Tex ...

The landfill dates to 1965, when it started as the North Broward County Resource Recovery and Central Disposal Sanitary Landfill, a ten-foot high pile of debris in what was then a remote section of the county. It currently takes in an average of 3,500 tons of trash daily and has the capacity to accept 10,000 tons of trash daily. The site has long emitted foul odors into the air of neighboring Coconut Creek. Complaints from the city in the 1990s resulted in Waste Management being fined for violating air standards. The company attempted to alleviate the problem by covering the garbage with extra dirt and spraying deodorizer from 55-gallon drums. In 2008, Waste Management withdrew its application to increase the height of the landfill from 225 feet to 280 feet. In 2011, Waste Management renamed the site the "Monarch Hill Renewable Energy Park." In 2010, after Coconut Creek threatened a lawsuit, Waste Management agreed that particularly odorous trash, such as food and other materials that decay, would no longer go into the landfill after three years. After Waste Management received a series of warnings from Broward County in 2012, it also agreed to place a cap over 10 acres of the landfill, spread 18 inches of soil over trash instead of the required 6 inches, employ greater use of odor-neutralizing chemicals, and pay over $100,000 in fines and costs. Nevertheless, by 2013, Waste Management had accumulated $1.6 million in fines, and Coconut Creek was still plagued by foul odors from Monarch Hill. In 2011, Monarch Hill was used as filming location for the film ''

Rock of Ages Rock of Ages may refer to: Films * ''Rock of Ages'' (1918 film), a British silent film by Bertram Phillips * ''Rock of Ages'' (2012 film), a film adaptation of the jukebox musical (see below) Music * ''Rock of Ages'' (musical), a 2006 rock ...

'' (2012). Doubling for

Mount Lee Mount Lee is a peak in the Santa Monica Mountains, located in Griffith Park in Los Angeles, California, USA. The Hollywood Sign is located on its southern slope. History The original unnamed peak was one of the "three sisters" along with C ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, a 20-foot tall replica of the

Hollywood Sign The Hollywood Sign is an American landmark and cultural icon overlooking Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. Originally the Hollywoodland Sign, it is situated on Mount Lee, in the Beachwood Canyon area of the Santa Monica Mountains. Spelling ...

was built on the southwest area of the hill for the filming of a scene from the film. The set was taken down after filming concluded.

References

{{coord, 26.28349, -80.16166, display=title Geography of Broward County, Florida Landfills in the United States Pompano Beach, Florida Coconut Creek, Florida Deerfield Beach, Florida