Crews continue demolition at OCRRA’s Ley Creek Transfer Station in Salina

SALINA — The effort to demolish the Ley Creek Transfer Station continues in the town of Salina. The demolition work will likely be complete by this fall, Tammy Palmer, public information officer for the Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency (OCRRA) tells CNYBJ in a May 20 email. OCRRA had announced the start of demolition work on April 22. “After decades of service to Onondaga County residents, it is time for the aging Ley Creek Transfer Station in the Town of Salina to come down,” OCRRA said in its announcement. Demolition crews at the site are removing large sections of the structure, which date back to the 1970s. OCRRA wants to clear the property and “reimagine” the site as a modern waste-management campus that will be “better equipped” to handle the “evolving needs of Onondaga County for generations to come.” “We don’t have unlimited capacity for trash in Onondaga County, but the stream of waste coming to us isn’t slowing down,” Kevin Spillane, OCRRA executive director, said in the announcement. “We can make it easier for everyone to reduce waste by creating a campus at Ley Creek that has the potential to accept, manage and even sell more materials. That vision begins with a new transfer station.” OCRRA said it’s replacing the transfer station because most of the structure was built in the 1970s with the intention of housing machinery to shred trash. As the community’s needs evolved, local leaders decided a transfer station was a better use for the site. Over the years, the structure has required an expansion, upgrades, and “significant” maintenance to accommodate the waste generated by households, schools, and businesses in Onondaga County. In recent years, it became clear that the existing transfer station had “reached the end of its useful life,” OCRRA said. “Tearing down and rebuilding a waste management site is a lengthy process,” Cristina Albunio, OCRRA director of engineering, said in the announcement. “There are a series of required permits and regulations to address along the way, from demolition through the design and construction phases. We’re anticipating the new transfer station is on track to open by 2028.”

What’s next?

OCRRA said crews are “carefully” dismantling the decades-old transfer station, and the site will be cleared to make it shovel-ready for reconstruction once the necessary funding and final permits are secured. The agency will also need ancillary support, including a fueling station and a vehicle maintenance facility. This investment is “critical to ensuring the long-term sustainability of OCRRA’s comprehensive municipal solid-waste management system,” per the OCRRA announcement.

What will replace it?

OCRRA said its board of directors has a long-term strategic plan for the site, beginning with a “modernized” transfer station. The new building will include a 40,000-square-foot tipping floor that can manage up to 1,200 tons of waste per day. As the community grows and changes, a facility of this size will give OCRRA “more flexibility” to collect and transfer waste to its final destination. Onondaga County’s trash goes to OCRRA’s Waste-to-Energy (WTE) facility, where it is converted into enough electricity to power roughly 30,000 households. Waste that cannot be managed at the WTE Facility, including some construction and demolition debris, may be segregated for reuse or recycling, or transferred to a landfill. “OCRRA’s Ley Creek Transfer Station site provides a service of convenience for many in Salina and the surrounding community. The renewed traffic to this commercial corridor in our town is an important boost to the vitality of businesses here,” Salina Town Supervisor Nick Paro said in the OCRRA announcement. “We’re excited for this re-development, and hopeful that it will grow into a larger solid waste campus in years to come. Salina is growing and we are grateful to have a strong and forward-thinking partner in OCRRA.”

Long-term strategic vision for the site

OCRRA said it purchased an additional 11.5 acres of land surrounding the Ley Creek site in 2023. With the expansion, the OCRRA board of directors has identified opportunities to recover and recycle additional materials and to manage different types of waste generated over time. In addition to a much larger transfer station, the long-term goal is to build a separate facility where hard-to-manage materials, such as batteries, household hazardous waste, electronics, film plastics, and paint may be dropped off in a single location for recycling. Residents must currently take those materials, and many others, to different drop-off points spread across Onondaga County. Additional room to service Onondaga County residents would give OCRRA “greater flexibility to cost-effectively manage” more materials. With an anticipated growth in Onondaga County’s population, investments in a “comprehensive solid-waste campus are more important than ever,” OCRRA contended.