For many decades the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island was the dumping site for all of New York City’s garbage. It was the world’s largest landfill with trash mounds that were 20 stories high, and it created terrible odours that polluted the area. When it was finally closed in 2001, and a long transition from dump to green outdoors space began. An international design competition yielded the ambitious plan to create a park three times the size of New York’s massive Central Park. The initial task was to make these mountains of garbage safe and sanitary. First they were levelled and capped with plastic sheeting, and then thousands of trucks with iron-rich soil were brought in to cover them. Methane extraction pipes were installed to convert the gas of decomposing garbage into power for local homes. 

Native grasses were planted and the land was sculpted into a beautiful design. Of course, turning the world’s largest landfill into a nine hectare park takes time, so the plan has always been to open in stages. This began with the opening of a two hectare section called North Park in 2022. It features trails that run through the fields of waving grass, with natural streams and groves of shade trees. The park is scheduled to be finished by 2030, and it will represent one of the world’s greatest re-wilding projects.