Source: NY City Department of Parks & Recreation
Source: CETCO Landfill Liners and Caps
Source: NY Mag - Proposed Park Land for Fresh Kills
Just finished the chapter from You Are Here – Exposing the Vital Link Between What We Do and What That Does to Our Planet about Fresh Kills. The largest rubbish dump on land – 2,200 acres with views of the Manhattan skyline. Waste was barged from around New York state to the landfill and at it’s peak it was taking 650 tonnes per day and was 25 metres taller than the Statue of Liberty (source: wiki). It has been closed for nearly a decade but the waste still needs to be processed. It will be turned into park land over the next thirty years.
2 million tonnes of debris from the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York City were barged to Fresh Kills for sorting and some of this included human remains of which 300 people were identified.
The word “kills” stems from the dutch word “kille” says Thoman M. Kostigen in his book You Are Here. It means “riverbed or water channel” which is much nicer than what I originally thought the name meant.
And there is great video here on the history, layers and future of Fresh Kills.
Tags: Fresh Kills, landfill, Manhattan, New York City, park, September 11th, Statue of Libery, waste, You Are Here
