History
The landfill opened in 1947 in what was then a rural agricultural area. The initial plan for a temporary landfill called for Fresh Kills to be used for 20 years then developed as a multiuse area with residential, recreational, and industrial components.
At the peak of its operation, the contents of twenty barges – each carrying 650 tons of garbage – were added to the site every day. In 2001 the landfill was 25 meters taller than the Statue of Liberty, and it was estimated that, if kept open, the landfill would have eventually become the highest point on the East Coast. Under local pressure and with support of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the landfill site was closed on March 22, 2001, though it was temporarily reopened soon after (see below.)
Originally the land that the landfill was located on was a salt marsh. The subsoil was made up of clay, with sand and silt as the top layer of soil. The land still contains large amounts of wildlife within the boundaries of the landfill. There were tidal wetlands, forests, and freshwater wetlands.
Read more about this topic: Fresh Kills Landfill
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