Idling garbage trucks outside a private Bushwick waste transfer station have allegedly been exposing local residents to high rates of tiny particulate matter—a diesel fuel pollutant that is known to cause severe respiratory issues and lung cancer—for over 25 years. According to a new report from local environmental advocates, many children from the surrounding neighborhood are suffering from asthma as a result.
Council Member Antonio Reynoso met with residents from the largely Spanish-speaking neighborhood surrounding Brooklyn Transfer LLC on Wednesday night, to discuss the report's findings and march on the station at Thames street.
Cleanup North Brooklyn, a grassroots organization that advocates for environmental safety and fair employment, collected video from local buildings and businesses over the course of a week this May. According to CNB, video demonstrated that Brooklyn Transfer LLC committed over 1,260 violations of regulatory code, including 63 idling violations, in seven days. This, despite the fact that the company's 2016 engineering report prohibits idling for more than three minutes.
CNB says that the Department of Sanitation and the Department of Environmental Conservation did not issue any fines for these offenses.
Residents have called 311 on these idling garbage trucks, out of fear of their toxicity, but the idling situation has persisted. According to Jessica Quiason, a researcher at ALIGN, an alliance of labor and community organizations, North Brooklyn suffers from levels of the particulate matter five times higher than that of the Greater New York average.
(Joshel Melgarejo/Gothamist)
Magda Escobar, a long-time Bushwick resident and a family nurse practitioner, told Gothamist Wednesday that "kids that live in high traffic areas with diesel trucks—like it is in our neighborhood because 200 trucks pass through per hour—are five times more likely to be hospitalized or seek more medical treatment."
"These DEPs can affect our children's lung development," she added. "It can restrict their lung capacity, making them have premature aged lungs."
Other issues raised Wednesday were the severe odor and chemicals that emanate from the waste transfer station, such as lechate, which is a liquid comprised of a complex mix of chemicals—including pharmaceuticals and rotting food—that drips from the garbage trucks, as well as the industrial grade perfumes that Brooklyn Transfer mists into the neighborhood air, comprised of endocrine disruptors which can affect youth hormonal development.
"I have kids," said Sanders Mendez, who's been living in Bushwick since 1983. "I can't let them out to play. I have to be careful with the trucks. They park right there, across from where we live at. When they leave, their stench, the liquid that comes out of the garbage, stays in the street."
After the forum, community members marched to Brooklyn Transfer LLC in the rain, forming a human chain outside its doors and chanting to demand the closure of the station.
"I wish we could let off a small machine that puts five times the particulate matter in the air during a city council hearing and see if they would run out the door out of concern for their health," Council Member Reynoso told the crowd. "But they allowed for the people around this area to live under these conditions every single day. It's truly an injustice that needs to stop and needs to change."
A representative from Brooklyn Transfer LLC called the report "factually inaccurate." Here's the company's statement:
The report was created by people with an agenda, who are neither experts in the industry nor in industrial safety procedures. Brooklyn Transfer is run according to the industry's best practices and has an immaculate record for 2016. It is properly licensed with all required operating permits and has operated in a highly regulated and inspected industry for more than 40 years, employing hundreds of local people in this community.
Brooklyn Transfer has earned an "excellent" rating from NYC regulators, and its permit was last reviewed in 2016 and renewed for a five-year term. Brooklyn Transfer consistently passes numerous daily inspections which ensures the safe and efficient use of our equipment, facility conditions, personnel, and especially the health and safety of local residents and businesses.
