Solid Waste Series

There was no shortage of trash talk exchanged between New York and Philadelphia during the recently concluded 2009 World Series (congratulations, Yankees … AGAIN). But that’s not the only trash traveling between the two cities.

This week, the New York Times featured a well-written story about New York’s mutually beneficial waste exporting relationship, in which it pays other municipalities — including the Pennsylvania communities of Morrisville, Tullytown and Falls Township — to accept its refuse. Rather than resent the constant stream of trash from New Yorkers, residents of these Phillies-loving towns reap rich financial benefits. They even exhibit pride in their modern landfills, a far cry from New York’s maligned Fresh Kills landfill, the closing of which necessitated this arrangement in the first place.

Interesting read.