New York — The Washington-based National Solid Wastes Management (NSWMA) has cautioned the New York City Council about the costs of the city’s proposed plan to use marine transfer stations in its solid waste management. During a March 30 hearing, David Biderman, NSWMA’s general counsel, testified that the plan would increase the city’s waste management costs by $2 billion over the next 20 years when compared with the city’s current system.
The plan, issued last fall, proposes renovating and reopening four city-owned marine transfer stations. According to the plan, about half of New York City’s residential waste would be processed at the stations and then sent by barge or rail to landfills. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Department of Sanitation have proposed the plan in the hopes of reducing the amount of truck traffic that takes the trash to disposal sites.
Biderman testified that the plan would only remove 250 trucks from the road. “Is it worth spending $2 billion to take 250 trucks off the road each day, when more than 32,000 trucks are on New York City’s streets?”