NEW YORK — New York's trash, 11,000 tons a day, will be hauled out of state on barges under a 20-year plan being proposed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the New York Times reported Thursday.

The plan would replace the city's current system of carting trash out of the state in garbage trucks, a method that critics complain increases traffic congestion and pollution.

New York has been searching for a solution to its trash problems since the closing of the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island in 2001. That landfill was opened just briefly to handle debris being taken from the World Trade Center site.

It has not yet been determined when the new system would go into effect or how much it would cost. Bloomberg was expected to announce the plan Thursday. It must be approved by City Council.

Under the program, much of the trash would be loaded onto barges at four renovated marine transfer stations: one each in Queens and Manhattan and two in Brooklyn. Garbage would be shipped out of the other two boroughs, the Bronx and Staten Island, by train.

Source: Associated Press