cleanup · Erie County
Tonawanda Plastics
Town of Tonawanda
River Road plastics property within the dense Tonawanda industrial corridor. It is tracked separately from Tonawanda Coke while sharing a landscape shaped by neighboring steel, coke, landfill, and chemical operations.
The documented story
What happened here?
The 17.446-acre property at 3821 River Road was developed by Allied Fibers and Plastics in the early 1950s. The plant polymerized ethylene into low-molecular-weight polyethylene sold in powder, pellet and solid forms and operated until chemical processing ended in 1982.
Rouse Breihan acquired the property in 1985. Later uses included management and laboratory testing for Tonawanda Coke and truck maintenance and parking; the property has been vacant since 2019 and changed ownership in 2022.
The state cleanup record must be read parcel by parcel. Tonawanda Plastics lies near Tonawanda Coke and other listed properties, but proximity alone does not establish one source, one plume, or one remedy.
Chronology in context
Turning points in the public record
Early 1950s-1982
Allied Fibers and Plastics manufactured polyethylene and related products at 3821 River Road.
1985 onward
Rouse Breihan acquired the property; later activities included Tonawanda Coke laboratory work and trucking uses rather than plastics production.
2019
The industrial property became vacant.
2022-2023
A new owner entered the 17.446-acre parcel into the Brownfield Cleanup Program and DEC approved a remedial-investigation work plan.
Current investigation
The program is evaluating soil, sediment, groundwater, tanks, drums, piping and former process equipment before selection of a final parcel-specific remedy.
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 vacant plastics plant begins a new parcel-specific investigation
The Brownfield Cleanup Program work plan opened a new chapter for the 17.446-acre property, calling for testing of soil, sediment, groundwater, tanks, drums, piping and former process equipment before redevelopment decisions are made.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation ↗Environmental record
Documented impacts
- Historical records and earlier sampling justify investigation of former chemical-processing infrastructure, storage areas, industrial fill, soil, sediment and groundwater.
- Industrial fill and neighboring facilities complicate source attribution in the River Road corridor.
- Tonawanda Coke studies provide regional context but do not automatically define Tonawanda Plastics contamination.
Response
Cleanup and controls
- The approved investigation is designed to distinguish on-site source areas from regional fill and neighboring properties and to complete a qualitative exposure assessment.
- Any interim action, cover, vapor measure, groundwater treatment or institutional control must follow the investigation and public remedy-selection process; the atlas does not describe a proposed control as already constructed.
Then and now
The site today
Tonawanda Plastics is an active investigation and redevelopment property, not a completed cleanup. Its former plastics plant, later Tonawanda Coke support uses, and nearby Site 109 remain related history but legally and evidentially distinct records.
Atlas connections
Connected places
These collections explain documented material, facility, waterway, ownership, or cleanup relationships. Inclusion does not imply that every place shares one contaminant source or plume.
River Road industrial and disposal corridor
Coke, plastics, steel, landfills, and material-transfer histories overlap along River Road. These records are geographically related but retain separate cleanup boundaries and responsible-party histories.
The former coke plant anchors the corridor's heavy-industrial and air-emissions history.
Plastics propertyTonawanda PlasticsThe plastics site is a separately regulated industrial property within the same River Road landscape.
Steel propertyRoblin Steel — TonawandaThis Tonawanda steel site is distinct from the former Roblin Steel cleanup in Dunkirk.
Chemical tank-truck terminalChemical Leaman Tank LinesChemical Leaman adds chemical transport, tank cleaning, and a managed environmental easement to the corridor.
Upland and sediment cleanup5565 River RoadThe 5565 River Road record connects a Class 2 upland site with separately mapped PCB-affected sediment.
Industrial landfillNiagara Mohawk–Cherry FarmCherry Farm connects the corridor's manufacturing history to documented disposal and long-term containment.
Mixed landfill and FUSRAP siteSeaway FUSRAP Site / Tonawanda North Unit 3Seaway adds municipal, industrial, and radiological material histories to the corridor.
Research status
Open questions
- Track sampling results and the eventual alternatives analysis before naming final contaminants of concern or remedy components.
- Build a shared River Road parcel map showing boundaries without implying unproven plume connections.