By Stephen Stirling
The city Department of Sanitation will begin soliciting bids for the expansion of a Marine Transfer Station in College Point next month it hopes will handle all of eastern Queens’ trash by 2012.
Department of Sanitation Deputy Commissioner Harry Szarpanski told the Queens Borough Board Monday night that the city hopes to award a construction contract for the College Point transfer station by February, allowing it to begin the three−year construction process as early as April.
The transfer station will be part of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s solid waste transfer program, which seeks to cut down on truck traffic and the city’s reliance on Fresh Kills landfill by making each borough individually responsible for its own waste.
The College Point transfer station, located on Flushing Bay at 31st Avenue, will be the collection point for all of the waste for Community Boards 7 through 14 which will subsequently be removed by barge to a rail connection where it will be taken to an out−of−state land fill.
Szarpanski said the transfer station will process an average of 2,200 tons of Sanitation Department waste and up to 1,000 tons of commercial waste per day. He said by barging the waste out of Queens, it will eliminate the need for large long−haul trucks to bus it to rail yards in the Bronx or New Jersey.
“This is what we’re trying to eliminate here,” he said. “And it will be going a long way away from the city after it leaves the transfer stations.”
To reduce the impact on the surrounding community, which is largely non−residential, trucks coming into the station will operate on a strict schedule and all the waste will be processed inside a building with negative air pressure to prevent odors from escaping.
“When you open the doors to allow trucks to come in, air won’t blow out. The building will have negative air pressure so air will only blow in,” Szarpanski said. “Air will only leave the building through one location which will be equipped with an odor neutralizing agent that will prevent any odors from affecting the surrounding communities.”
Waste processed at the station will also be packaged into sealed, leak−proof containers that will allow for easy, safe transportation.
Reach reporter Stephen Stirling by e−mail at Sstirling@timesledger.com or by phone at 718−229−0300, ext. 138.
