End Notes
For almost a year, the recovery team at the Fresh Kills facility sifted, sorted, and searched through 1.8 million tons of World Trade Center material. The staff never recovered a black box from the jets, a box cutter, or anything relating to the hijackers.
Recovered
- 4,257 pieces of human remains
- 54,000 personal effects—95% belonging to survivors, including 610 pieces of jewelry
- $76,318.47 found loose in the fields
- 6 kilograms of narcotics
- 4,000 photos—found and delivered to Kodak Laboratories and NFL Films to be decontaminated and restored
- 1,358 destroyed vehicles processed: 102 pieces of fire apparatus, 61 police department vehicles, and 1,195 personal automobiles
- Hundreds of airplane fragments
- Several pieces of Auguste Rodin sculptures from the offices of the investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald
- Thousands of rounds of unexploded ammunition
Participants and Site
- 25 City, state, and federal agencies assigned—1.7 million worker hours, 14 private contractors
- 175 acres used in the 3,000-acre former landfill
- Protective gear owrn by sorters—Tyvek suits, half-face respirators with HEPA filters, hard hats, goggles, hearing protection, and protective footwear
- Air sampled regularly for asbestos and other contaminants and results posted prominently
- $125 million operation by the Army Corps of Engineers
Barge and Truck Operation
- Barges were 130 feet long x 30 feet wide x 15 feet deep
- Each barge carried 650 tons of material
- Barge operation was completed on May 31, 2002
- 13,096 truckloads containing 218,181 tons supplemented the barge operation
The recovery operation was officially completed on July 26, 2002, at 1:00 p.m.