Episode Details

Once a dumping ground for NYC’s trash, Fresh Kills on Staten Island is set to become a park by 2036—but its most haunting chapter was as the final resting place for over a million tons of World Trade Center rubble. Just days after 9/11, the landfill reopened in a grim mission: sorting through wreckage and searching for human remains. Workers like Barry Asnes, who led crews through punishing 16-hour shifts, faced unimaginable trauma—and later, devastating health consequences. Diagnosed with stage four lymphoma, Asnes beat cancer after five years of treatment, but lost friends to similar illnesses. Over fifty sanitation workers from Fresh Kills have died from 9/11-related diseases, and thousands more suffer long-term effects. Despite the cost, these heroes take pride in their sacrifice. The World Trade Center Health Program now recognizes that more lives were lost to illness than to the attacks themselves.

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