In 1948, New York City began barging garbage to Staten Island; the pile grew to 150 million tons, taller than the Statue of Liberty

Ten years after the last garbage barge arrived at Fresh Kills Landfill in March 2001, a barge came back loaded with young trees, according to NYC Parks.

The landfill opened in 1948 with the approval of Robert Moses, the powerful city builder behind much of New York’s parks and parkways, as what was meant to be a three-year fix, per Forgotten NY. By 1955, it was the largest in the world, according to NYC Parks, and by 1991 the buried volume had passed that of the Great Wall of China, per Audubon.

At its busiest, 20 barges a day arrived carrying about 650 tons of garbage each, according to Waste Management World.

Four mounds hold about 150 million tons of waste, according to NYC Parks. The tallest, in West Park, reaches 200 feet above sea level. WNYC reported that the landfill grew taller than the Statue of Liberty. The statue itself measures 151 feet from the top of its base to the torch, per the National Park Service, so the big mound clears it by roughly 50 feet. Count the pedestal, though, and Lady Liberty wins at 305 feet.

The pile stopped growing after a 1996 state law required the landfill to stop taking waste by the end of 2001. The last barge arrived on March 22, 2001, per NYC Parks. Shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the site took in about 1.2 million tons of debris from the World Trade Center, and the processing there ended in July 2002, according to Audubon.

Construction on Freshkills Park began in 2008 on a site of 2,200 acres, almost three times the size of Central Park, according to NYC Parks. North Park, the first section, opened in October 2023 on 21 acres, with an overlook deck, a bird-viewing tower and a composting restroom that uses no water, per the mayor’s office.

“What was once an eyesore is now becoming a world-class park,” Mayor Eric Adams said in the release. More than 200 bird species have since been recorded at the site, Audubon reports.

Not every New York barge found a home so easily. In fact, in 1987, a barge of Long Island garbage wandered across multiple states for two months before ending back up in Brooklyn.

This story was originally published by Parade on Oct 18, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.