In 1987, the City of New York found that it had reached its landfill capacity. The city agreed to ship its garbage to Morehead City, North Carolina, where there were plans to convert it into methane. On March 22, 1987, the tugboat "Break of Day" towed the barge "Mobro 4000" and its cargo of over 3,100 tons of trash. While it was in transit, a rumor spread that the 16 bundles of trash that contained hospital gowns, syringes and diapers was a contaminant that affected the entire load. As a result, the state of North Carolina refused to accept the waste. After an 11-day delay, the "Mobro" made its way to its home port in Louisiana, but that state, too, declined the waste. Similarly, Alabama, three other states, and the nations of Mexico, Belize, and the Bahamas refused the load before the operators abandoned the plan and returned to New York.