Waste Transfer Station In Gowanus Begins Operations Today

GOWANUS — Operations begun today at the new Hamilton Avenue Marine Transfer Station (Hamilton MTS) located in Gowanus, Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia announced. The facility will handle about 1,600 tons of trash per day from various Brooklyn districts.

The $173 million facility is the third in a network of marine transfer stations serving New York, the other two being the North Shore MTS at College Point in Queens and the Staten Island Transfer Station on Staten Island. Two other marine transfer stations are under construction, one in Manhattan and one by Gravesend Bay in Brooklyn.

DSNY trucks will bring waste to the Hamilton MTS, which is operated by Sanitation in partnership with Waste Management.  Sealed containers of waste from Hamilton Avenue MTS will travel by barge to Elizabeth, New Jersey. From there, the trash will be brought to a rail yard to be transported to disposal facilities in either Virginia or upstate New York.

“The completion and operation of the Hamilton Avenue Marine Transfer Station is a benchmark accomplishment as the City implements the SWMP,” said Commissioner Garcia in a statement.  “Operationally, the new Hamilton Avenue MTS features advanced ventilation and odor controls, negative air pressure system, sealed leak-proof containers, and rapid roll-up doors. Waste will leave the facility in sealed containers by barge along the Gowanus Canal with no waste being exposed to the outside environment.”

The new Gowanus transfer station will cut the number of trucks carting trash through the city by 200 per day, according to a NYC Department of Sanitation statement released back in April, relieving overburdened North Brooklyn communities.