Trash Transfer Stations

The journey of our trash is a long one. From our homes where we throw out our household waste to the place it finally goes, the entire trip can sometimes be hundreds of miles. One town located outside Albany, New York, has a landfill where thousands of tons of New York City trash head every week. Shipments of trash from New York to Alabama and other places over a thousand miles away are fairly routine in cities all over the country. The trash transfer station is one stop along the way. 

 

A trash transfer station is exactly what it sounds like. It is an operation where materials to be disposed of, specifically trash, are brought for future shipment to another destination. It helps to consolidate smaller amounts of trash, making the transportation from that point more efficient. Trash transfer stations are found in both densely-populated, urban areas and sparsely-populated, rural areas alike. 

 

In the urban areas, these stations are usually used for household and commercial waste picked up by the garbage trucks we are used to seeing on the roads. Since the final disposal facility for the trash is usually a long distance away, multiple garbage truckloads of trash are dumped and transferred onto much larger trucks, or even trains and barges, for the trip to its final resting place. This also allows the garbage trucks to fill up several times a day closer to where their customers are instead of wasting time driving further away to dump. 

 

In many rural areas, trash transfer stations usually are also used for garbage trucks to drop loads for transfer, but many communities may not have regular trash pick services available. In that case, the residents need to have a place to bring their household trash on a regular basis. Depending on the amount of trash generated, giant dumpsters may be set up at the transfer station and hauled away when full.  

 

In both rural and urban locations, trash transfer stations may also be collection and drop off points for local hazardous waste collection drives, spring cleanup drop off, yard waste, unwanted junk too big for pick up, and others. Sometimes, these transfer stations are located inside a building, and others are completely outdoors. Urban transfer stations tend to be mostly enclosed, but the surrounding yard may be extremely messy and loaded with tell-tale signs of what is going on inside. They usually have an endless parade of garbage trucks dumping load after load of trash into a huge pit where it is compressed and shoved into huge trailers or rail cars for transport. Some of these facilities have very heavy truck traffic during operating hours and an extremely bad odor much of the time, especially during warm and or muggy weather. Transfer stations in places like New York City fill barges with trash from their transfer station for heading down the river and who knows where. 

 

While these facilities only accept non-hazardous waste to transfer, over the years there have been cases of trucks of liquid hazardous waste being poured into the solid waste and disposed of quietly. It was a frequent but illegal practice that was exposed by a major investigation into the solid waste industry back in the 1980s. Federal and state investigations in New York, New Jersey, and Florida determined that organized crime had taken over numerous solid waste operations and was using them to dispose of hazardous wastes. The hazardous waste was being mixed with household waste at transfer stations in many cases and was then dumped at landfills. In Florida alone, state law enforcement officials documented at least 18 solid waste companies that organized crime had taken control of and may have been using  transfer stations and landfills for illegal dumping. In New York and New Jersey, dozens of waste companies and several large landfills were controlled by organized crime. The investigations covered the transfer stations as well as the landfills under the control of organized crime. 

 

In Bergen County, New Jersey, there was a big investigation into the trash industry. At the time there was a transfer station near where I had lived where hazardous wastes were being brought in and soaked into the trash before being moved to the landfill. 

 

In spite of tighter regulations over hazardous waste disposal over the years, there remains many opportunities for continued illegal activity. With all of this activity going on, there are some unavoidable issues that will happen. Due to the nature of the transfer station and the amounts of material they handle, there is no way to totally avoid or fix some of the issues. 

 

1. Truck Traffic

 

One of the biggest complaints from people, especially in urban areas, is the amount of extra traffic the transfer station generates. After school and in the morning, there usually are children on their way to or from school. Trucks and kids do not always mix well as both are trying to get someplace, usually in a hurry. The streets are unsafe with the hundreds of trucks all rushing to dump their loads to go out and pick up more trash. Children frequently dodge the trucks as they walk along the streets to and from school. A motorcyclist was killed by a garbage truck earlier in the year in Jamaica, Queens. Sometimes transfer stations are located close to a highway exit or in an industrial neighborhood, but that is not always the case for many. 

 

At many of the larger transfer stations, there will be a daily flow of trash trucks using local residential streets to dump their loads at the transfer station. Depending on how the collected waste is being shipped to the disposal site, there may be additional large trucks entering the facility to be filled before heading to the disposal site. While the truck may only take ten minutes to dump its load into the pit inside the trash transfer facility, there may be several trucks lined up idling, waiting for their turn to dump. The average trash truck holds 12-14 tons of trash, which averages out to roughly 800 homes of residential pick up. How many homes are on the truck’s route determines how many times the truck needs to enter and exit the facility daily.

 

The exhaust fumes from the trucks creates a health hazard because their diesel engines emit particles known to contain chemicals that can cause cancer. Very few trash companies use anything other than diesel trucks although several are slowly moving towards methane-powered ones. The diesel fumes hang low in the air, especially in narrow city streets where much of it mixes with the air residents breathe. Effects from the constant addition of these fumes aggravates asthma, causes respiratory issues, and irritates nose and airway passages, causing sore throats. People with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are especially susceptible to diesel particulates and may experience more attacks as a result. 

 

In September, 2019, a Jamaica, Queens, resident recalled first moving to the neighborhood and enjoying walking down the street each morning to grab a coffee and sit in the park to watch the people and happenings. Then the trash transfer station opened. Daily, an estimated 350 garbage trucks rumble down the street to the station to dump over a thousand tons of trash. One family had to move after their children developed breathing issues from the particulate matter in the diesel fumes. Once relocated to a new neighborhood, the children no longer had respiratory problems. 

 

2. Odors

 

The problem of odors from transfer stations comes from wet and rotting food waste. Contaminated packaging, spoiled vegetables, old meat, and food scraps all contribute to an unavoidable stench, no matter how hard the station tries to suppress it. Some are more successful than others with enclosed areas with ventilations systems, odor suppression systems, and special air curtains for the building. There will be bad days and not-so-bad days, but the good, odorless days will be far and few between. If the neighborhood is lucky, though, the transfer station operators will try to be a good neighbor as much as possible.

 

Odors, while they may be offensive to the nose, are actually composed of gases and particulates from chemicals and decomposing wastes carried into the air. That smell of rotten eggs is actually sulfur hydrogen gas, which, when inhaled, is an irritant to our lungs and respiratory system. Small particles of food waste, dust, and dirt from the garbage all mix in the air and are inhaled. Bacteria growing on food waste and germs from disposed tissues or personal care items are contained in the air near these transfer stations. Increases in asthma, coughing, eye irritations, and colds are all possible health issues from exposure to these germs. 

 

In rural areas, the transfer station is usually an open air yard. These transfer stations tend to be located on the edge of town. Depending on the local population growth, they may already be surrounded by residential neighborhoods. Many rural transfer stations have several large roll-off containers residents can use to throw away their trash. Sometimes they are enclosed with doors on the side that slide open and closed to minimize open trash. If there is also a garbage company in the area using the transfer station, there may be a ramp with large open containers the trash trucks can dump into. Usually, stations who receive garbage truck traffic have personnel to assist with dumping the trash. The truck traffic is much lower due to fewer pick-ups, but the trash may sit at the transfer station longer, waiting until the larger transport vehicle is full enough to take the trash to the disposal facility. In the warmer months, the decomposing trash may get awfully disgusting between pickups to take it away. 

 

Even in urban areas where the trash is removed from the transfer station daily, it may have been sitting out behind the restaurant or your house for several days before the regular weekly or bi-weekly pickup is scheduled. 

 

3. Trash in Neighborhood

 

There are usually regulations requiring all trucks carrying trash either in or out of the facility to be tarped and covered. No matter how well the drivers comply, there will always be some trash along the roads from the trucks. It is a common sight to see a garbage truck driving down the street with plastic bags blowing off or a few foam cups flying away.

 

There is also the trash that blows away from the site off the incoming trucks or during the transfer and transport. Most times there are perimeter fences to contain loose materials, but some trash, like plastic bags and foam cups, are especially easy for the wind to catch. Even if the trucks are tarped and the building fully enclosed, there still will be noticeable trash escaping its boundaries. 

 

Many well-run transfer stations will send a crew out to pick up trash along the main routes into the facility, but not many places have the budget to be able to do this on any consistent basis. Many will also say that is neighborhood trash and all their trucks come in tarped, so it’s not their problem. Whether it falls off the garbage trucks on the way in or blows off the trucks on the way out, expect garbage in the neighborhood along the streets. While the thought of plastic bags and old styrofoam food containers may not sound very threatening, there is more. Neighbors have reported finding large chunks of rotting meat, leachate leaked from the truck on the streets that smells so bad it makes them nauseous and in one case, used hypodermic needles apparently from illegally disposed medical waste. 

 

4. Birds and Vermin

 

Anytime there is a place where garbage collects, there are going to be animals because all they see is a free and easy meal. Open transfer stations have to deal with birds flying in and grabbing exposed trash. Rats, raccoons, and other vermin slip through fences and inside buildings in both urban and rural stations to feast on the large amounts of edible food waste available. Traps may regularly be placed around the perimeter and inside the facility, but they are only somewhat effective at reducing the numbers of animals looking for the easy handout. Sometimes, these facilities drape netting over the large doorways where trucks enter and exit the building to keep birds out, but, again, it is impossible to completely control this problem.

 

Birds are often seen circling overhead at the landfills; they know where the food is and are going to try their best to hang around to eat.

 

At a transfer station in Washington, DC, the problem got so bad and the issue went on for so long that the district finally used eminent domain to shut down the private transfer station. Since it opened back in 1988, it has been a constant target of complaints and lawsuits. In spite of new ownership taking over the operation, neighbors are fed up with the flies, rats, and other vermin the place has attracted. Rats are known to be carriers of diseases, and the trash attracted an increasingly large number of them into the neighborhood for years. 

 

In Evanston, Illinois, people have been living with a transfer station for years, and very little has improved since the odors and rodents started infesting the neighborhoods. The neighbors have been trying to have the transfer station closed but have not been successful. Worried about the germs carried on the rats and other vermin in the neighborhood, the residents keep many of the children off the streets after school, children who normally would be out playing. The neighbors, like other places with transfer stations, suffer from respiratory issues from the dust and dirt and inhaling the sulfur fumes in the air. 

 

5. Neighborhood Decline

 

Let’s face reality. No neighborhood is going to welcome a trash transfer facility. Most of the facilities are in areas that are already run down and predominantly industrial or in poor neighborhoods where operators feel the poor people have no political clout to stop them. As property values in the area decreases, even more commercial businesses may move in, bringing other hazards with them. With those industries come a whole host of other risks posed to the neighborhood.

 

While the vast majority of these transfer stations are located in poorer neighborhoods or industrial areas, they are sometimes near neighborhoods many would not think they belong by. Availability of real estate and location to transportation of the collected waste may drive the decision where the transfer station goes. On the upper east side of Manhattan, a 10 story high waste facility is being built. The location is along the river so barges will be able to be loaded with waste from the transfer station. The city of New York will operate the transfer station 24 hours a day, six days a week. Upwards of 500 trucks per day are expected to dump trash there. The neighbors tried to stop the facility from being built based on the traffic, noise, pollution, diesel fumes, and odors, but lost their battle. Many residents sold their apartments in buildings nearby for $2-3 million, glad to leave, but unhappy property values decreased several hundred thousand dollars as a result of the transfer station. Those who stayed behind or rented these once-lavish apartments are now stuck with the consequences of living near a trash transfer station.   

 

6. Noise

 

Depending on the size of the operation and how much trash it handles, the equipment needed could be quite significant. Larger transfer stations frequently use large bulldozers and front end loaders to move trash around. Mechanical floors and giant crushers churn away inside, preparing trash to be reloaded. During operating hours there will be noise from equipment within the facility as well as the ever-present trucks with diesel engines delivering the trash. Conveyors moving trash from the tipping floor into containers runs almost non-stop throughout operating hours. 

 

The noise of the giant diesel engines on the garbage trucks, which weigh about 33,000 pounds empty and upwards of 50,000 full, rumbling past all day affects the people in the neighborhood. The nervous system in the body responds to these noises before anyone can realize and stimulates the system into thinking it needs to react. The continuous triggering of a response affects the entire nervous system and causes stress on the body.  Communities such as Richardson, Texas, East Williamsburg, New York and Evanston, Illinois know first hand about the rumbling of the trucks on the road, the constant whirring of the machinery and the banging from the bulldozers that assaults their bodies every day taking a toll on their nerves, increasing blood pressure and interfering with rest. 

 

Transfer stations serve a valid purpose in the chain of trash disposal needs. Without them, not only would it be more difficult to get the trash to the disposal facility, it would also be much more expensive to do so. At the same time, much more could be done to control at least some of the problems and issues they create for their neighbors. 

 

Living near a transfer station can make your daily life less than pleasant. Even when the operators do their best, there is still unavoidable truck traffic and noise. Odor control at best will still not be enough for you not to notice this is your neighbor.

 

If you have a choice, being at least a half mile away from these transfer stations would help limit your exposure to the effects of the odors, hazards from gases, and vermin in the area. Truck traffic may still go past your home, so checking on the routes these transport vehicles use should still be checked. If you are already living near a transfer station, installing an air filter in your homes and keeping your windows closed may minimize intrusion of odor carrying hazardous gases and dust particles. If the permit for the transfer station has requirements for hours, noise levels, and odor controls, make sure they are following them. If they are not, report the facility to the health department and document what is wrong.