Ironworkers helped cut up steel beams into more manageable sizes for removal. Much of the debris was hauled off to the Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island where it was further searched and sorted. According to The New York Times, by September 24, 2001, more than 100,000 tons of debris had been removed from the site.

The approximately 1.8 million tons of debris and rubble from the World Trade Center site—commonly known as "Ground Zero"—was transported to the Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island. This location became a temporary, high-security forensic site where the material was meticulously sifted and sorted. Over 1,600 recovery workers and forensic experts spent nearly 10 months examining the debris for human remains, personal effects, and evidence. Most of the structural steel was eventually sold for scrap and melted down; some of this recycled steel was notably used in the construction of the USS New York, a Navy transport dock ship. After the sifting process was complete, the remaining pulverized material and debris that could not be recycled were buried in a dedicated 40-acre section of the landfill, which has since been covered with layers of clean soil and is being transformed into Freshkills Park. A small portion of the most significant architectural fragments and artifacts was preserved and is now on display at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in Lower Manhattan.