Bio
Phillip Gleason is responsible for all aspects of New York City’s landfills, including operations, regulatory compliance, closure, end-use, and post closure maintenance and monitoring. In a city that generates 12,000 tons of refuse every single day, it’s a responsibility of nearly unfathomable importance. Gleason brings to his work a breadth of scientific and technical know-how,including expertise in geology,landfill engineering,chemical engineering, and water management. “I’ve rarely seen anyone who has such an in-depth grasp of so many details—engineering, environmental, and regulatory,” says one colleague. In addition, operating and closing a landfill can span 30 years and must meet scores of complex environmental regulations, a Herculean task that involves an intricate three-decade timeline and requires an exhaustive knowledge of regulatory interpretation, accounting, and budgetary procedures. Gleason has beeninvolved with the successful closure of five city landfills, including Freshkills Landfill, the largest landfill in the world, which at its peak received all the city’s solid waste, some 24,000 tons per day, including commercial waste. Gleason was also instrumental in the successfully closing Edgemere Landfill, a singular achievement since Edgemere, opened in 1938, had to be closed in accordance with environmental regulations it was never designed to meet. Phil is renowned not just for his technical and managerial acumen, but for his deep concern for city residents, designing landfill operating procedures in ways that minimize its impact on nearby residents. Says John Doherty, Commissioner of Sanitation, “Phil sees what needs to be done, and he sees eight steps ahead of anyone.We can’t do without him.”
