cleanup · Erie County
Houdaille / Strippit Landfill
Akron / Town of Newstead
Two-acre disposal area behind the Strippit plant. Buffalo Arms used the property during the 1940s for arms testing and scrap disposal; later wastes included coolants, heat-treatment sludge, solvents, drums, and burned refuse. Waste was consolidated beneath a composite cap in 1994, followed by monitoring and maintenance.
The documented story
What happened here?
The Akron property first entered the twentieth-century defense economy through Buffalo Arms, which used it from about 1940 to 1950 for machine-gun testing and scrap disposal. Houdaille Industries' Strippit Division later manufactured metalworking machinery there beginning in 1956.
A roughly two-acre disposal area immediately behind the plant received process and general wastes until 1979. Records describe approximately 20,000 gallons per year of cutting oils, coolants, and possibly degreasing solvents, about three tons per year of heat-treatment sludge, refuse, open burning, and reports of buried drums.
Chronology in context
Turning points in the public record
Circa 1940–1950
Buffalo Arms used the property for machine-gun testing and disposed of metal scrap and related material.
1956–1979
Houdaille/Strippit manufactured metalworking equipment and used the rear disposal area for coolant, sludge, refuse, and possibly solvents.
1979
On-site disposal ended and the area was covered with several feet of fill during plant expansion.
1981–1994
Successive investigations characterized buried waste, drums, metals, organic compounds, and groundwater conditions.
1994–present
Waste was consolidated beneath a composite soil and geomembrane cap, followed by post-closure monitoring and maintenance.
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.
A machine-gun test property becomes an industrial disposal ground
The official history records Buffalo Arms firing machine guns and discarding scrap before later plant wastes, drums and burned refuse accumulated behind the Strippit factory.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation ↗Investigation finds contamination contained within the landfill area
DEC concluded that sampled contamination was not leaving the disposal area and selected consolidation and capping; continuing monitoring remains important because the waste was contained rather than wholly removed.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation ↗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
- Historical records identify process coolants, cutting oils, heat-treatment sludge, refuse, and suspected degreasing solvents in the disposal area.
- Investigations detected metals, PCBs, PAHs, phthalates, and halogenated organic compounds in site media.
- The reported buried drums and earlier defense-production use add uncertainty to the precise inventory of material beneath the cap.
Response
Cleanup and controls
- The 1994 interim remedial measure consolidated waste into a controlled footprint.
- A composite soil and geomembrane cap limits contact, erosion, and water infiltration.
- Groundwater sampling, cap inspection, vegetation management, repair, and periodic reporting continue under the post-closure program.
Then and now
The site today
The property remains associated with industrial use while the former disposal area is a managed capped landfill. The remedy contains material on site rather than demonstrating that every drum and waste deposit was removed.