Some western Queens residents are turning their noses at a plan that they say will increase the number of foul-smelling freight trains rumbling through their neighborhood.
Waste Management of New York, which operates the waste transfer station on Review Ave. in Long Island City, received state approval last month to expand the facility and more than double its daily trash handling capacity.
The plant will also begin transporting waste out of Queens via train from the Fresh Pond Junction, upping the number of rail cars traveling through residential neighborhoods to take out the borough’s trash.
The waste would be taken north through upstate New York and eventually makes its way to a landfill in Virginia. The expanded plant would process up to 2,100 tons of waste a day at peak production or 1,150 tons a day on average, according to a company spokesman. That’s up from its current capacity of 958 tons a day.
But neighbors fear more idling trains in Maspeth, Middle Village and Glendale will inundate residents with rancid smells and loud noise.
“These people are so close they can’t even open their windows,” Middle Village resident Anthony Pedalino said of his annoyed neighbors at rally outside the facility on Monday. Instead, residents said, they want Waste Management to transport the waste via barges sailing out of Newtown Creek.
A Waste Management representative said they shouldn’t be holding their breath.
“The creek is narrow at that point and it is difficult to maneuver and store barges at the site,” said Waste Management spokesman George McGrath, adding that the option had been extensively explored.
The station currently handles trash from residents in Community Board districts 1, 2, 3, and 5, McGrath said. The expanded plant would handle that trash as well as that from Community Board districts 4 and 6.
Still, McGrath said the rail plan will reduce the number of diesel tractor-trailer trips by about 52 a day and help the city meet the emissions-reducing goals of its Solid Waste Management Plan.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation ruled last month that the expansion did not call for a full environmental review, explaining the expected increase in noise and air quality was not “significant.”
Elected officials disagreed.
“Any amount of increased noise or odors is too much to withstand,” said state Sen. Joe Addabbo (D-Howard Beach). “We don’t need and we don’t want garbage touring our community.”
