Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg joined by Department of Sanitation (DSNY) Commissioner John J. Doherty, City Council Solid Waste Management Chairman Michael E. McMahon and City Council Minority Leader James Oddo announced changes to the City's Solid Waste Management Plan today at City Hall. The plan will utilize and upgrade the City's existing Marine Transfer Station system to include containerization and waste compaction at each site. New York City will not rely on-out-of-state processing or containerizing facilities to handle the more than 13,000 tons of waste and recyclables that the DSNY collects each day. Currently, most of the City's non-recycled waste is trucked to land-based transfer stations or incinerators in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island or New Jersey and then either loaded on trains or trucked to out-of-state landfills. By using existing Marine Transfer Stations, New York will cut out the costly and environmentally damaging process of trucking garbage out of the City.

"The removal of waste and keeping the City clean is a massive undertaking," said Mayor Bloomberg. "It involves more than 2,000 trucks, nearly 10,000 men and women and almost a billion dollars a year in direct cost to the City. Since the closing of Fresh Kills, the City now exports one hundred percent of its waste at a cost of more than $313 million a year through a complicated system of trucks, barges and trains. By upgrading our Marine Transfer Stations, the City will have significantly greater flexibility in disposal options, vastly mitigated environmental impact and lessened vulnerability to any single disposal method or market."

"The disposal of New York's refuse is more challenging than ever," said Commissioner Doherty. "While there are over 3,500 active landfills in the United Sates only a handful are close to large urban centers and New York trucks most of its garbage 80 miles or more from the City. Disposal costs for solid waste have grown from $44 per ton in 1997 to over $88 per ton in 2001. Our plan will broaden our disposal options by providing access to more landfills and freeing us from expensive hauling contracts."

The cornerstone of the plan is retrofitting the Marine Transfer Stations to allow them to containerize and compact refuse on site. The sealed containers can be barged to container ships, rail facilities or trucks increasing the flexibility and the options for disposal dramatically. The Marine Transfer Stations will require reconstruction and waste containers and compaction equipment will to procured.

"I am extremely pleased that we are able to put forth a plan that is environmentally equitable, fiscally prudent and technically feasible," said Chairman McMahon. "The Council is committed to continue working with the Administration to see this plan implemented. For the past 100 years the City of New York has failed to deal with its garbage. This plan is therefore historic because we end that failure, now. As a Staten Islander, I have grown up in the shadow of the Fresh Kills Landfill and therefore know first hand the ill effects of the past garbage nightmares. Today we bring optimism to the people of Staten Island, Hunt's Point in the Bronx, Greenpoint and Williamsburg in Brooklyn and all other neighborhoods that suffer from garbage injustice. I am grateful to the Mayor and the Commissioner and Speaker Gifford Miller, for the opportunity to be part of this process."

"I want to thank Mayor Bloomberg and his staff for developing a plan that is fair to each borough and does not unduly burden any one community," said Minority Leader Oddo. "The plan clearly recognizes the historic disparity in the City's handling of solid waste and does not repeat that mistake. Dealing with solid waste is and will continue to be a daunting task and I look forward to working with the Administration and the City Council in meeting those challenges."

New York's City's more than 11,000 daily tons of refuse (non-recyclables) are collected curbside by the DSNY fleet of nearly 1,500 trucks. Most of the Manhattan-generated waste is transported to a waste-to-energy facility located in Newark, New Jersey. Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island's refuse is colleted by DSNY and delivered to private waste transfer stations both in the City and in surrounding counties where it is loaded onto 18-wheel trailers for transport to landfills in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Most of the Bronx municipal solid waste is delivered to a privately operated transfer station located in the Harlem River Yards where it is loaded into containers and onto rail cars for disposal facilities outside of the City.

Containerization at the Marine Transfer Stations will vastly improve the environmental impact of the City's waste removal process. The City will be able to use its waterways to safely transport containerized rubbish drastically reducing road degradation and pollution and expanding transportation alternatives to include barge, train and ship.

The Bloomberg Administration has created a task force with the City Council to re-evaluate its recycling program and to ensure a comprehensive and economically appropriate long-term strategy that is fully integrated into the solid waste management plan.