The Tropical Hardwood Reduction Plan announced by Mayor Michael Bloomberg on February 12, 2008 in his speech at the United Nations revealed that the NYC Department of Sanitation is planning to using a massive amount of greenheart — a tropical hardwood logged from the old-growth rainforests of Guyana.

According to the Plan:
"The Department of Sanitation (DSNY) is about to begin the bid phase for the construction of four new Marine Transfer Stations (MTSs), three of which include docks and fendering systems that will employ greenheart. The three MTSs are scheduled to begin construction in late 2008 and 2009, and when combined, the total one time greenheart material cost is estimated to be $1,815,000.

"Additionally, the DSNY will soon begin design of two additional MTSs for barging recyclables from Manhattan that could involve the use of greenheart."


This is a tragic use of this wood as it will involve the logging of potentially thousands of acres of pristine rainforests, thus pushing thousands of species towards extinction and committing thousands of tons of CO2 to the atmosphere, while eliminating a few more thousands of acres of forest that could absorb carbon produced elsewhere.

Numerous brands of structural recycled plastic lumber (RPL) are readily available, any of which would not only perform better than wood in this application but using RPL would also sequester carbon and eliminate landfilling of tons of plastic waste, while generating jobs in the New York Metropolitan Region.

The use of greenheart by Sanitation flies in the face of the stated intent of Mayor Bloomberg's Plan: to reduce the use of tropical hardwoods as an effort to reduce the City's climate impact.


You can use Sanitation's on-line form to send a message to John J. Doherty, the Commissioner of the Sanitation Department, demanding that the department redesign the fenders and cluster piles of the North Shore MTS to utilize RPL or another sustainable material, in place of greenheart. Below is a sample message you can cut and paste, or write your own.

Sanitation Must Not Destroy Rainforests!
Dear Commissioner Doherty, The New York City Department of Transportation has the opportunity to help shift the City's material use away from destructive tropical hardwoods towards carbon-friendly and extremely durable recycled plastic lumber. The new marine transfer stations should be a model of green building, not continue the old addiction to carbon-intensive and species-destroying rainforest woods. I demand that you redesign the North Shore MTS to utilize structural RPL instead of greenheart.