Fresh Kills Landfill

About

The Fresh Kills Landfill was a landfill covering 2,200 acres (890 ha) in the borough of Staten Island in New York City, United States. The name comes from the landfill's location along the banks of the Fresh Kills estuary in western Staten Island.

The landfill opened in 1948, intended to be temporary, but by 1955 had become the largest in the world, and it remained so until its closure in 2001. At the peak of its operation, in 1986, Fresh Kills received 29,000 short tons (26,000 t) of residential waste per day, playing a key part in the New York City waste management system. From 1991 until its closing, it was the only landfill to accept New York City's residential waste. It consists of four mounds that range in height from 90 to about 225 feet (30 to about 70 m) and hold about 150 million short tons (140×10^6 t) of solid waste. The archaeologist Martin Jones characterizes it as "among the largest man-made structures in the history of the world."