Fresh Kills Landfill

The Fresh Kills Landfill on the New York City borough of Staten Island in the United States, was formerly the largest landfill in the world, at 2200 acres (890 hectares), and was New York City's principal landfill in the second half of the 20th century. The name "Fresh Kills" refers to its location along the banks of the Fresh Kills estuary in western Staten Island.

History

Opened in 1948, it became one of the largest refuse heaps in human history. The site is 12 square km (4.6 square miles) in area; and when operational twenty barges, each carrying 650 tons of garbage, were shipped in every day. It could be regarded as being the largest man-made structure on Earth, with the site's volume eventually exceeding the Great Wall of China. In fact in 2001 its peak was 25 meters taller than the Statue of Liberty. Under local pressure and with support of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the landfill site was closed on March 22, 2001. However, after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, the landfill was temporarily reopened in order to receive and process much of the debris from the destruction. The debris was later removed into various locations, including museums and steel mills. The site is now planned to be a city park.

Fresh Kills Park Project

Starting in 2003, the site is planned to be transformed into reclaimed wetlands, recreational facilities and landscaped public parkland, the largest expansion of the New York City parks since the development of the chain of parks in the Bronx during the 1890s. In January, 2005, Staten Island Borough president James Molinaro announced plans to open three roads leading out of the former landfill to regular traffic, as part of an effort to ease the road congestion. Construction on the actual park is expected to start after the completion of environmental and land use reviews at the end of 2007. The three-phased development of the park, which will include a September 11th memorial, is expected to last 30 years. The draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was published for public review on 16 May 2008.

Fresh Kills Park will be three times the size of Central Park. It will consist of a variety of public spaces and facilities for a multitude of activity types. The site is large enough to support many sports and programs including nature trails, horseback riding, mountain biking, community events, outdoor dining, sports fields and canoeing.

Staten Island Transfer Station

Staten Island Transfer Station is located on the site of the former Fresh Kills landfill. The transfer station - an integral part of New York City's Solid Waste Management Plan - is expected to process an average of 900 tons per day of Staten Island-generated residential and municipal waste. The waste is compacted inside the facility into sealed high by long intermodal shipping containers, which are then loaded, four containers each car, onto flatbed rail cars to be hauled by rail to an Allied Waste landfill in South Carolina. The eight mile (13 km) Staten Island Railway freight service which connects the facility to the national rail freight network was reactivated in April 2007, after it had been closed in 1991.

External links

• Fresh Kills: New York City Department of Parks & Recreation information section

References