The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has issued the final regulatory approval to build a waste-transfer station on the Upper East Side, city officials said.
Deputy Mayor for Operations Cas Holloway said Sunday the station will help double the city's recycling rate, and ensures all five boroughs bear responsibility for handling waste. He hopes to break ground this year and finish by 2015.
Right now, there are waste transfer stations in every borough but Manhattan. The facility will be located on East 91st Street, along the East River. A nearby station closed in 1999. Opponents say it plagued them with odors, vermin and pollutants.
Some residents of Manhattan remain virulently opposed to the project. Assemblyman Micah Kellner, who has filed a lawsuit in State Supreme Court challenging the plan, told the New York Times he still hopes to stop it.
"I am more than hopeful that we will win in court and finally put this ill-conceived garbage dump to rest," he told the Times.
The city generates about 50,000 tons of waste and recyclables daily. City officials plan to rely more on trains and barges to ship what they handle.
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