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Q&A
Discussion on garbage destinations and marine transfer stations in New York City
0:29:51
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138 sec
Council Member Brannan inquires about where New York City's garbage goes and the use of marine transfer stations. DSNY officials explain the destinations for waste and the environmental benefits of marine transfer stations.
- Garbage goes to waste-to-energy plants in New Jersey and landfills outside New York City
- Marine transfer stations are more environmentally friendly than truck-based waste export
- Each barge container represents a truck kept off the street, reducing particulate matter in the air
Justin Brannan
0:29:51
Where does most of our garbage go?
0:30:07
And I wanna ask about the marine transfer stations.
0:30:10
How do the operational costs there compare to truck based or rail based waste export?
0:30:26
Basically, are the are the marine transfer stations cheaper to operate than the old way?
0:31:26
No, I agree.
0:31:27
I mean are there plans to optimize the use or expand the use of the waste the marine transfer stations versus the overland transport?
Javier Lojan
0:29:55
So some of it goes to our waste to energy plants, which is in New Jersey.
0:30:01
And some of it goes to landfills outside of New York City.
0:31:36
So one of the things that we always look at is to try to maximize efficiencies.
0:31:44
I think one of the limitations is we have certain tonnes per day limitations.
0:31:51
So but we're always happy to maximize that where possible.
0:31:55
Sometimes in an MTS like 90 First Street, it would require us to add a third shift.
0:32:02
And right now, we're not really seeing that volume come in there.
0:32:04
So we don't think it's feasible financially for us at this time.
Joshua Goodman
0:30:33
They're certainly more environmentally friendly to operate than the old way.
0:30:37
As far as a cost per ton, it's hard to estimate because there's no other city of our scale.
0:30:41
Right?
0:30:41
So to develop an apples to apples comparison, would it be cheaper to do truck?
0:30:45
There's not much to look at.
0:30:46
We know that this is vastly more environmentally friendly than driving 24,000,000 pounds of trash a day out of the city by truck.
0:30:54
Mean every one of those, you know, when you see the barges leave like Southwest or 90 First Street and they're loaded with dozens upon dozens of those.
0:31:03
Every single one of the containers is a truck kept off the street.
0:31:06
So long term, the environmental and economic impact of the city of reducing the particulate matter in the air is obviously something that would be very difficult to estimate reliably.
0:31:17
But this is a system that's been working well for the twenty years since it began, ten ish since it reached complete rollout with the completion of 90 First Street.