Public park opens at the former site of world’s largest landfill
The first portion of a public park has opened in New York City on top of a site that was once home to the world’s largest landfill.
North Park, a 21-acre public park officially opened on Staten Island with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Sunday.
It is the first major milestone of a massive, decades-long project to clean up the Fresh Kills Landfill, the city’s notorious dump, and turn it into Freshkills Park.
‘We all remember Fresh Kills – there was nothing fresh about the smell that came out here. It killed,’ New York City Mayor Eric Adams said.
For over 50 years, Fresh Kills Landfill took in trash from all five boroughs. It was finally closed in 2001, but work on restoring the site has progressed slowly.
‘This became the largest landfill on the globe, filled with New Yorkers’ household garbage. People became complacent and stated that there was nothing we could do,’ Mayor Adams said. ‘It was ugly, it was unsanitary, it had a terrible smell coming from here.’
The project is scheduled to finish by 2036. The fully completed Freshkills Park will encompass the entire 2,200 acre site – making it about three times as large as Central Park in Manhattan.
The newly opened portion will be powered by on-site solar panels and feature self-composting restrooms.
‘It is a marvel of human ingenuity and engineering – turning the refuse of the past into shared space for our future – a future of sustainability and respect for our environment,’ Mayor Adams said.
The Fresh Kills landfill opened in 1948, and was only intended to be a temporary dump for the city. However, most of the city’s trash was flowing to the landfill by 1955.
The efforts to clean up Fresh Kills began in 2001, when then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani fulfilled a campaign promise to close the dump.
The site was briefly reopened to store rubble and refuse from the 9/11 terror attacks. For years, investigators combed through the rubble stored at Fresh Kills to find remains of those trapped in the World Trade Centers.
Work on the new park began in earnest in 2008, and has progressed slowly over the last decade. Basketball and handball courts were opened near the site in 2012, and a soccer field was opened in 2013.
Sunday’s grand opening for the North Park marks the largest expansion to date. The 21 acres feature bike and foot paths, as well as an overlook deck and a bird watching tower.
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