Mobro 4000 Garbage Barge

The Mobro 4000 was an American trash disaster. A barge is a boat used specifically to carry cargo, in this case 6 million pounds (3,000 tons) of trash. In 1967, Islip, New York, like many cities in the US was running out of space to dispose of garbage. Lowell Harrelson an Alabaman builder had the idea to put this extra garbage on a barge and ship it south to Morehead City, North Carolina and make money using the methane gas that came off the decomposing garbage for energy. Because of claims that this barge had rodents and hazardous hospital waste North Carolina rejected it along with New Orleans, Louisiana; Mexico; Belize; and Key West, Florida also rejecting the barge. The barge had no other choice but to go back to Islip. Even while trying to dock in Islip the barge was met with two legal battles rejecting it from docking. The judge ordered the trash to be incinerated after its 6,000 mile (3 month) journey. This was a huge story in the media at the time and left people aware of where their trash would end up and what would happen to it or what wouldn't happen to it.