Sustainable recycling comes to Sunset Park waterfront
The views from the bridge and viewing platform are breathtaking: the waters of Upper New York Bay lapping against the Sunset Park and Red Hook waterfronts, the ferries and boats and barges sailing past the Lower Manhattan skyline, and the giant pile of recycled plastics and metals coming in off barges and being steam cleaned and sorted along a giant conveyer belt maze as workers in neon yellow vests and hard hats make sure everything is going smoothly.
Welcome to the Sunset Park Material Recovery Facility (MRF), a brand new state-of-the-art $110 million recycling facility on the 30th Street Pier in the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal that will eventually be able to process all of New York City’s curbside metal, glass and plastic recyclables—up to 1,000 tons of material a day—preparing it for export to buyers around the world.
Operated by Sims Metal Management and the city Department of Sanitation (DSNY), the facility – which will have around 75 full-time employees — is the largest of its kind in the country and was over 10 years in the making as a “key part” of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s PlaNYC 2030 green initiative.