High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Fresh Kills Landfill was a landfill covering 2,200 acres (890 ha) in the New York City borough of Staten Island in the United States. The name comes from the landfill`s location along the banks of the Fresh Kills estuary in western Staten Island. The landfill was opened in 1947 as a temporary landfill, but eventually became New York City`s principal landfill in the second half of the 20th century, and it was once the largest landfill, as well as man-made structure, in the world.