New York City generates as much as 36,000 tons of refuse each day. The Department of Sanitation collects over 12,000 tons of waste produced by residents and public agencies each day. Since the closing of the city’s last garbage dump at Fresh Kills, Staten Island in 2001, the city has exported its refuse to landfills in other states, many in the Southeast. To minimize the visibility of waste disposal to many New Yorkers, the current Solid Waste Management Plan directs curbside trash to commercial waste transfer stations (primarily in the South Bronx and northern Brooklyn) where they are distributed to distant landfills via truck, train, and boat.
Because of this policy, New York exports a higher percentage of its generated waste than any other state in the country. The financial and environmental costs of this policy are substantial.