ALBANY, N.Y. (AP)  -- New York's Senate has approved Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan to haul away the city's trash by barge and rail instead of trucks.

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The Senate passed a bill Wednesday authorizing the city to build a Marine Transfer Station on Manhattan's Gansevoort Peninsula. The City Council is already on board.

The facility is needed for Bloomberg's plan to reconfigure the disposal system with waterfront stations where trash would be put on barges after it's picked up at the curb. Stations are planned for Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan's Upper East Side.

Bloomberg says the plan will reduce traffic congestion and ease air pollution.

The Democrat-led Assembly considers the plan next.

Trash and recyclables from the Bronx and Staten island are already shipped by rail.