New York City, the largest US municipality with a population of 12 million, presently generates 28,000 tons of garbage per day. Its main disposal facility Fresh Kills-is expected to be the only one of four presently operating landfills still in in use in 1987, and to be filled to capacity be 2001. Institutional, economic, and environmental obstacles severely restrict landfill options within the city, and ocean disposal of municipal solid waste is not considered feasible. In short, continued reliance on landfills to absorb the City's enormous volume of municpal waste is no longer considered viable.