Marine transfer stations are publicly operated facilities where waste can be loaded onto barges instead of trucks. For years, environmental justice communities have pushed for these stations to handle commercial waste collected by private haulers. The City’s 2006 Solid Waste Management Plan found that using marine transfer stations this way could significantly reduce truck traffic and pollution without creating new noise or neighborhood impacts.

This shift is critical because New York City’s current system remains deeply unequal. After the closure of Fresh Kills landfill, waste handling became concentrated in a small number of predominantly Black and brown communities, where truck-based transfer stations still dominate. While policies like the 2006 plan, the Waste Equity Law, and Commercial Waste Zones were designed to reduce this burden and expand cleaner barge- and rail-based systems, progress has been uneven. Today, most private waste is still processed in just a handful of districts, underscoring the need to fully utilize marine transfer stations to create a more equitable, efficient, and less polluting system.