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".

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, 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 tons (2,812 tonnes) of trash. Chartered by entrepreneur Lowell Harrelson and Long Island mob boss Salvatore Avellino, it set sail on March 22 from Islip, New York, escorted by the tugboat Break of Dawn and carrying 3,168 tons (2,874 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. The Mexican Navy denied it entrance to their waters. It made it as far south as Belize, again being rejected,

Legacy

At the time, the Mobro 4000 incident was widely cited by environmentalists 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. 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.

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 regulations.

A commemorative T-shirt was produced with the wording "L.I. Garbage Barge - World Tour '87" surrounding a cartoon image of the scow.

The backstory of the garbage ball in the 1999 Futurama episode "A Big Piece of Garbage", draws directly from this event.

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

  • 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. .