cleanup · Erie County
Dunlop Tire Disposal Sites
Town of Tonawanda
Three historical waste-disposal areas at the River Road tire plant were investigated, capped, and placed under long-term groundwater monitoring and site management.
The documented story
What happened here?
The former Dunlop tire complex covered about 128 acres near River Road and Sheridan Drive, but its State Superfund record concerns three disposal areas totaling roughly 25 acres. Treating the whole plant as one landfill loses the most revealing part of the history: each area held a different mixture of tire-making and power-plant waste.
Site A received fly ash, slag, carbon black, asphalt, foam, tires, coal, and demolition debris; most disposal ended by 1970, though construction debris continued until 1979. Site B held natural and synthetic rubber scrap, golf balls, plastics, carbon black, fly ash, amines, antioxidants, and general refuse. Site C served primarily as a coal-ash landfill until 1973, while interviews with retired workers described drums of waste solvents and degreasers among the material placed there.
A 1991 consent order led to trenching and investigation, and DEC selected a containment remedy in March 1993. Clay, soil, vegetation, asphalt, drainage, fencing, and groundwater wells now manage what remains; the current industrial use sits around and in places over that controlled waste landscape.
Chronology in context
Turning points in the public record
1920s onward
Three disposal areas developed alongside tire manufacturing, receiving ash, rubber-process materials, solvents, debris, and other plant wastes.
1980s–1992
A state consent order and field investigation used test trenches, borings, records, aerial photographs, and worker interviews to define Sites A, B, and C.
1993
New York selected low-permeability caps, drainage, fencing, inspection, and groundwater monitoring for all three disposal areas.
1990s–present
Semiannual cap inspection and periodic groundwater review have continued while the larger property remained in industrial use.
News record
Major news events
Coverage selected here marks a turning point in public awareness, policy, enforcement, employment, or cleanup. Links open at the original publisher or archive; WNYAtlas does not reproduce restricted articles or images.
Three disposal areas become one long-term tire-plant stewardship story
EPA and DEC records distinguish three waste areas at the River Road complex. Investigation, capping and groundwater monitoring addressed the disposal history without treating the entire manufacturing property as one uniform waste cell.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ↗Chemical guide
Chemicals named in this record
These links explain potential hazards and exposure pathways. A chemical named in a record does not establish that anyone was exposed or harmed.
Environmental record
Documented impacts
- The waste inventory differs by unit: Site A is dominated by ash, slag, carbon black and debris; Site B by rubber-process waste and additives; and Site C by coal ash with reported solvent and degreaser drums.
- The remaining-contamination record includes phenols in soil or fill; PAHs, metals, and pesticides in sediment; and VOCs, phenols, and metals in groundwater.
- The three units differ in size, waste history, and conditions; findings from Site 2 should not automatically be applied to Sites 1 and 3.
Response
Cleanup and controls
- The three landfills were covered with 18 inches of compacted low-permeability clay and six inches of vegetated soil; traffic areas were paved, though the periodic report notes that a clay cap beneath every paved area was not confirmed.
- Runoff is routed to catch basins and the plant settling pond, while downgradient wells provide early warning if groundwater conditions change.
- Landfill inspections, repair obligations, land-use controls, and excavation restrictions protect the containment systems.
Then and now
The site today
The disposal areas remain managed within an industrial property. Grass, pavement, parking, or factory activity can obscure their outlines, but none of those surface uses eliminates the capped waste below. A sale or plant closure would not cancel the maintenance and monitoring obligations.