View source for Mobro 4000

{{Short description|American barge}}
The '''''Mobro 4000''''' was a [[barge]] owned by MOBRO Marine, Inc. made infamous in 1987 for hauling the same load of trash along the east coast of [[North America]] from [[New York City]] to [[Belize]] and back until a way was found to dispose of the garbage.  During this journey, local press often referred to the ''Mobro 4000'' as the "'''Gar-barge'''".<ref name="PR">{{cite web | url = http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-5122093.html | title = Gar-barge docks on Monday | date = 1987-08-21 | publisher = [[PR Newswire]] | accessdate = 2010-08-05 }}{{dead link|date=February 2019|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref>

== Voyage ==
In 1987, the City of New York found that it had reached its landfill capacity. The city agreed to ship its garbage to [[Morehead City, North Carolina|Morehead City]], [[North Carolina]], where there were plans to convert it into [[methane]]. On 22 March 1987, the tugboat ''Break of Day'' towed the barge ''Mobro 4000'' and its cargo of over 3,100 [[Ton|tons]] (2,812 [[Tonne|tonnes]]) of trash.<ref name="Katz2">{{cite web|last=Katz|first=Jane|date=First Quarter 2002|title=What a Waste|url=http://www.bos.frb.org/economic/nerr/rr2002/q1/waste.htm|access-date=December 3, 2008|work=Regional Review|publisher=[[Federal Reserve Bank of Boston]]|location=[[Boston]]}}</ref>  Chartered by [[entrepreneur]] [[Lowell Harrelson]] and Long Island mob boss [[Salvatore Avellino]], it set sail on March 22 from [[Islip (town), New York|Islip, New York]],<ref name="NYTimes-May">{{cite news |last=McFadden |first=Robert D. |date=May 15, 1987 |title=Garbage Barge Returns in Search of a Dump |page=A1 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/18/nyregion/garbage-barge-returns-in-search-of-a-dump.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |accessdate=March 22, 2018}}</ref> escorted by the [[tugboat]] ''Break of Dawn'' and carrying 3,168 [[ton]]s (2,874 [[Tonne|tonnes]]) of trash headed for a pilot program in [[Morehead City, North Carolina]], to be turned into [[methane]].

While it was in transit, a rumor spread that the 16 bundles of trash that contained hospital gowns, syringes and diapers was a contaminant that affected the entire load.<ref name="Katz2" /> The barge was docked at [[Morehead City]], until a [[WRAL-TV]] news crew, acting on a tip, flew by helicopter to the coast to investigate. Action News 5 Reporter [[Susan Brozek]] broke the story on the 6 p.m. news on 1 April 1987, and [[North Carolina]] officials began their own investigation, which resulted in an order for the Mobro to move on.

As a result, the state of [[North Carolina]] refused to accept the waste. The barge then proceeded along the coast looking for another place to offload and continued to meet stiff resistance.<ref name="NYTimes-May" />  After an 11-day delay, the ''Mobro'' made its way to its home port in [[Louisiana]], but that state, too, declined the waste. Similarly, [[Alabama]],<ref name="Katz2" /> three other states, and the nations of [[Mexico]], [[Belize]], and the [[Bahamas]] refused the load.<ref name="Oddnews">{{cite web|date=March 22, 1987|title=Garbage Barge Begins Lengthy Trek|url=http://www.newsoftheodd.com/article1018.html|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070807193014/http://www.newsoftheodd.com/content/view/216/29|archive-date=August 7, 2007|access-date=May 21, 2005|work=News of the Odd}}</ref> The [[Mexican Navy]] denied it entrance to their waters.  It made it as far south as [[Belize]], again being rejected,<ref name="NYTimes-May" /> before the operators abandoned the plan and returned to [[New York (state)|New York]].<ref name="Oddnews" /> 

Lowell Harrelson, the owner of the garbage, tried to negotiate for the ''Mobro'' to dock near [[Queens]], whence the refuse would be carried back to Islip by trucks. [[Claire Shulman]], the borough president of Queens, was not consulted, however; she obtained a [[temporary restraining order]] that forced the waste to stay at sea.<ref name="Oddnews" />  The ''Mobro'' and its decaying cargo stayed off the shores of [[Brooklyn]] until July, when the vessel was granted a federal anchorage in [[New Jersey]]. The court hearings ran until October, when it was agreed that the cargo should be incinerated in Brooklyn. The 430 tons of ash that remained from this process was added to the landfill in Islip.<ref name="Oddnews" /><ref>{{cite news|last=Gutis|first=Philip S.|date=July 11, 1987|title=Trash Barge To End Trip In Brooklyn|page=A1|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/07/11/nyregion/trash-barge-to-end-trip-in-brooklyn.html|accessdate=March 22, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|date=May 6, 2013|title=Voyage of the ''Mobro 4000''|work=[[Retro Report]]|publisher=The New York Times|url=https://www.retroreport.org/video/voyage-of-the-mobro-4000/|accessdate=March 22, 2018}}</ref>

==Legacy==
At the time, the ''Mobro 4000'' incident was widely cited by [[environmentalist]]s and the media as emblematic of the solid-waste disposal crisis in the United States due to a shortage of [[landfill]] space: almost 3,000 municipal landfills had closed between 1982 and 1987.<ref name="Katz">{{cite web | url = http://www.bos.frb.org/economic/nerr/rr2002/q1/waste.htm | last = Katz | first = Jane | title = What a Waste | work = Regional Review | date = First Quarter 2002 | publisher = [[Federal Reserve Bank of Boston]] | location = Boston | accessdate = 2010-08-05 }}</ref>  It triggered much national public discussion about waste disposal, and may have been a factor in increased [[recycling]] rates in the late 1980s and after.<ref name=dooley>{{cite news |last1=Dooley |first1=Emily |date=March 22, 2017 |title=Long Island's infamous garbage barge of 1987 still influences laws |url=https://projects.newsday.com/long-island/long-island-garbage-barge-left-islip-30-years-ago/ |work=[[Newsday]] |accessdate=March 22, 2018}}</ref>

According to the [[Union of Concerned Scientists]], the ''Mobro 4000'' incident was caused by a combination of poor decision making by local Islip public officials and short-term difficulties triggered by changing [[environmental regulation]]s.{{Fact|date=June 2007}}

==In popular culture==
A commemorative T-shirt was produced with the wording "L.I. Garbage Barge - World Tour '87" surrounding a cartoon image of the scow.<ref name=dooley/>

The Swedish 1988 comedy film ''[[S.O.S. – En segelsällskapsresa]]'' features a garbage barge as a [[plot device]], roaming the inner [[Stockholm Archipelago]].<ref>According to co-writer Bo Jonsson, they "got the idea from a [news? -ed.] article about New York, where a garbage-barge like that [the one in the film -ed.] went around without being able to unload it". Quote translated from Swedish DVD's audio commentary track at 18m52s (the scene at [[Djurgårdsbron]])</ref>

The backstory of the garbage ball in the 1999 ''[[Futurama]]'' episode "[[A Big Piece of Garbage]]", draws directly from this event.<ref>{{cite news |last=Sicorsky |first=Dan |date=November 23, 2015 |title=The Newest Migrant of the Seas |url=http://www.wupr.org/2015/11/23/the-newest-migrant-of-the-seas/ |publisher=[[Washington University Political Review]] |accessdate=March 22, 2018}}</ref>

Singer [[Sally Timms]] included a song about the incident, "Junk Barge", written by [[Dave Trumfio]], in her 1995 album ''To the Land of Milk and Honey''.

A children's book about the incident, ''Here Comes the Garbage Barge'', by [[Jonah Winter]], was published in 2010. Another, ''All That Trash: The Story of the 1987 Garbage Barge and Our Problem with Stuff'', by Meghan McCarthy, was published in 2018.

== See also ==
* [[Khian Sea]]

==References==
{{reflist}}
*Brower, Michael, and Warren Leon. 1999. ''The consumer's guide to effective environmental choices: practical advice from the Union of Concerned Scientists''. New York: Three Rivers Press. {{ISBN|0-609-80281-X}}.

[[Category:Waste disposal incidents in the United States]]
[[Category:Barges of the United States]]
[[Category:Waste in the United States]]
[[Category:1987 in the environment]]
[[Category:1987 in the United States]]
[[Category:Port of New York and New Jersey]]