MAYOR GIULIANI AND BOROUGH PRESIDENT MOLINARI MARK EXPORTATION OF RESIDENTIAL TRASH FROM THE BRONX
CONTRACT SENDS TRASH OUT-OF-STATE -- INSTEAD OF TO FRESH KILLS -- FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 60 YEARS
Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani joined Staten Island Borough President Guy V. Molinari today to announce that starting July 7th all of the residential trash generated in Bronx County will be exported to Virginia -- marking a significant milestone in the administration's effort to close the Fresh Kills Landfill. Under the three-year, $86 million waste removal contract awarded to Waste Management Inc. (WMI) earlier this year, WMI will transport 1,700 tons of residential trash from the Bronx each day.
"Today we take a major step toward our goal of closing the landfill," said Mayor Giuliani. "The New York City Department of Sanitation has awarded a three-year contract to WMI to begin exporting 1,700 tons of solid waste a day -- or over 600,000 tons each year -- from the Bronx. Instead of coming to Fresh Kills, this waste will be transported to a landfill in Waverly, Virginia. The contract is a major victory for two reasons. First, it will cost the City only $51.72 per ton of waste, less than the experts had anticipated; and second, it demonstrates that we are well on the way to meeting our goal of freeing Staten Island of this burden by the year 2001.
"I'm very proud to be here today as we realize a dream, and help fulfill a promise to the people of Staten Island," the Mayor continued. "For Staten Islanders, the landfill has been an unfair burden and eyesore. As they have seen the garbage steadily mount over the years, the people of Staten Island have shown remarkable patience. I thank them for that. I also thank them for their persistence. Patience and persistence, together, are making this possible. I also want to thank Borough President Molinari for his vision and tireless leadership in this area.
The Mayor concluded, "In the years to come, we will continue building on the City's strong record of recycling and reducing garbage to minimize New Yorkers' daily waste output, and we will proudly close the site forever in 2001. In 2001, images of waste from all five boroughs being dumped on Staten Island will no longer be a daily headache. They will be memories."
Staten Island Borough President Molinari said, "The City is taking its most significant and definitive step yet toward closing Fresh Kills by exporting over 1,700 tons of daily residential trash from the Bronx. For the first time in over 60 years, garbage destined to be dumped at Fresh Kills will instead be exported out-of-state. This is great news for Staten Island, and it demonstrates Mayor Giuliani's commitment to working with my office to close Fresh Kills within four years."
Under the Fresh Kills Plan, outlined by the Fresh Kills Task Force, the City is working to reduce waste, increase recycling and export garbage to locations outside of the City in preparation for the final closure of the landfill.
Originally opened in 1948, Fresh Kills is the world's largest landfill, covering over 3,000 acres on the western shore of Staten Island. The Fresh Kills facility receives 7.9 billion pounds of waste annually, and operates six days a week, 24 hours a day, with a staff of 600 Department of Sanitation workers.
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