Brooklyn, N.Y., Embraces Waste By Rail

Today, New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced plans to transport waste from Brooklyn, N.Y., transfer stations to out-of-state landfills via rail, eliminating the use of long-haul trucks. According to the mayor’s office, the move will improve air quality, cut traffic and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“By exporting 950 tons of residential and municipal waste per day by rail, we’re eliminating more than 40 long haul tractor trailer trips each day — or about 13,000 trips per year,” said Mayor Bloomberg in a press release. “That’s not only going to help reduce congestion on the borough’s streets and highways, it also will reduce the city’s greenhouse gas emissions and improve the air we breathe — especially in communities that have long been unjustly saddled with handling other people’s waste.”

The city signed a 30-year contract with Waste Management to oversee the rail transfer operation.