cleanup · Erie County
Land Reclamation Landfill
Cheektowaga
Former municipal and industrial landfill at Indian Road and Broadway beside Cayuga Creek. State records document hazardous industrial wastes, a 20-to-50-foot waste mass, groundwater flow toward the creek, closure deficiencies, and a later cap-and-control remedy.
The documented story
What happened here?
The approximately 40-acre Land Reclamation site lies in the Cayuga Creek floodplain at Indian Road and Broadway. The regulated site includes an approximately 33-acre landfill and a transfer-station area; Old Land Reclamation is a separate adjoining site to the east.
Municipal and industrial disposal occurred from about 1950 to 1983. Land Reclamation, Inc. operated it beginning in 1965, NEWCO followed, and BFI acquired the property in 1982. DEC's decision record identifies more than 2,500 cubic yards of industrial waste, including oil sludge, acids, pine-tar pitch, inks, paint wastes, incinerator ash, and phenolic materials.
Chronology in context
Turning points in the public record
1950–1983
Municipal and industrial wastes were disposed at the floodplain landfill; operating complaints included leachate, odors, inadequate cover, and prohibited industrial disposal.
1983–1985
Landfilling stopped and BFI performed an initial clay-cap closure that DEC found deficient.
1995–1998
A consent order and state remedy required completion of closure and long-term environmental controls.
Long-term management
The closed waste mass remains in place under a cap with drainage, leachate, gas, access, and monitoring provisions.
Environmental record
Documented impacts
- Some documented industrial wastes met New York hazardous-waste definitions.
- Groundwater in the shallow alluvial unit moves south toward Cayuga Creek; the decision record evaluated groundwater, leachate, surface-water, and sediment pathways.
- The site is separate from Old Land Reclamation and nearby construction-and-demolition disposal areas even though the properties form one visually continuous landfill landscape.
Response
Cleanup and controls
- Closure work included a full low-permeability cap, stormwater controls, leachate collection, landfill-gas management, fencing, monitoring, and institutional restrictions.
- The remedy contains waste rather than removing the entire landfill, so cover integrity and water controls remain part of the site's protection.
Then and now
The site today
Land Reclamation is a managed closed landfill beside Cayuga Creek. Its historic Class 3 designation and containment remedy should not be read as unrestricted cleanup or as a description of the adjoining Old Land Reclamation site.