garbage scow

{{Short description|Boat or barge used to transport waste}}

File:Amsterdamgargagescow.jpg]]

A garbage scow is a large watercraft used to transport refuse and waste/garbage across waterways. It is often in the form of a barge which is towed or otherwise moved by means of tugboats; however, many are also self-propelled. They are most common in large, coastal cities, such as New York City,{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=1z4aAAAAIBAJ&pg=5442,5077295&dq=garbage+scow&hl=en|title=Hunt for Narcotics Worth $1,500,000 on Garbage Scow|date=June 26, 1948|work=Milwaukee Journal|accessdate=2 December 2010}} which may transport collected trash to neighboring ports for disposal or, occasionally, even illegally dump the payload at sea.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,752853,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081215031148/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,752853,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 15, 2008|title=STATES & CITIES: Garbage|date=June 1, 1931|magazine=Time|accessdate=4 April 2011}}{{cite news|url=http://large.stanford.edu/publications/coal/references/peterson2/|title=New Concern Raised By Waste-Dumping In Atlantic Off L.I.|last=Peterson|first=Iver|date=August 31, 1987|work=New York Times|accessdate=4 April 2011}}

The garbage scow Mobro 4000, which was given the nickname the "Gar-Barge", became notorious in 1987 for travelling between New York City and Belize trying unsuccessfully to get rid of a load of rubbish, ultimately incinerated in New York.

Garbage scows have been used to covertly transport illegal substances in the US. In 1948, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported a major bust of narcotics smugglers by United States customs guards and NYC police, with city sanitation workers searching through 20 tons of garbage on a scow in New York Harbor for over US$1 million in drugs concealed there.

In another case, during the 1920–1933 era of US prohibition of alcoholic beverages, a garbage scow in New York was used to smuggle 1,000 cases of liquor from New York's "rum row".{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=AwgvAAAAIBAJ&pg=4655,3003502&dq=garbage+scow&hl=en|title=Garbage Scow Carries Booze|date=July 30, 1930|work=San Jose Evening News|accessdate=2 December 2010}}