Southwest Brooklyn Marine Transfer Station

Located near Coney Island, the Southwest Brooklyn Marine Transfer Station (MTS) was constructed on an existing Sanitation Garage property. The waters in the bay around this Station are used by the community for fishing and other recreational activities, and a local marina operates next door. The project team paid particular attention to protecting the water and minimizing disruptions to the bay at this location.

The Southwest Brooklyn MTS is designed to accommodate the physical and operational challenges of a heavy industrial facility in a harsh marine environment. The pile-supported structure is framed in high-strength structural steel to accommodate the heavy floor loads and long, column-free spans required in the waste dumping, processing and container handling areas for optimal accessibility and operational flexibility. New external ramps constructed of cast-in-place concrete box girders and supported by cast-in-place concrete piers and pile foundations will provide ample two-lane, bi-directional traffic access to the tipping floor and single-lane access to the loading level.

The $150 million Southwest Brooklyn MTS project demonstrates how collaborative planning, innovative design, and close interagency coordination enabled DSNY’s new infrastructure concept for containerizing and transporting municipal solid waste to be the first of their kind in the world — and the first solid waste infrastructure designed to support future recycling technologies vital to New York City achieving its ultimate goal of “zero waste” sustainability. 

Project Highlights: 

• Honored with 2020 ACEC-New York Diamond Award and 2020 ACEC National Honor Award 

• Conceptual, Preliminary and Final Design 

• Equitable distribution of municipal solid waste processing and transportation by waterborne barge outside of New York City 

• Innovative processing system efficiently containerizes municipal solid waste for marine transfer within an enclosed, sealed, and odor-controlled industrial-grade facility. 

• Benefits include reduced city road and rail traffic, smaller DSNY operational carbon footprint,