Onondaga County to restart trash-to-energy plant on Thursday after flying in replacement part

Syracuse, N.Y. – Onondaga County expects Thursday to restart a plant that burns trash to generate electricity, leading to a resumption of normal curbside trash pickup in the county.

Crews at the facility on Rock Cut Road in Jamesville shut the plant down for planned maintenance on Friday, maintenance that included the scheduled replacement of a type of pressure relief valve known as a rupture disk.

But the replacement disk failed, preventing the plant’s restart, said Christina Albunio, director of engineering for OCRRA.

A second replacement disk was installed on Monday, but it, too, failed, she said. That led OCRRA to stop accepting municipal solid waste.

The failures of both disks is believed to have been caused by a manufacturing defect, Albunio said.

The agency had a third disk flown in Tuesday and expects to resume burning trash on Thursday, said Tammy Palmer, public information officer for the agency.

In the meantime, OCRRA will accept municipal waste at its nearby transfer station on Wednesday, Palmer said. That trash will be moved to a landfill or to the trash-to-energy facility once that is back up and running, she said.

The transfer station will not accept trash from individuals and business customers until operations at the trash-to-energy plant resume, she said.

OCRRA said it is possible the shutdown has caused some haulers in the county to delay curbside trash pickups this week. But any delays should end soon after the plant resumes operations, officials said.

Most of the county’s trash is sent to the trash burning plant, where it is turned into enough electricity to power 30,000 households a year. The plant, which is operated for OCRRA by Reworld, reduces the amount of material that needs to be landfilled by 90%, according to OCRRA.

Rick Moriarty covers business news and consumer issues. Got a tip, comment or story idea? Contact him anytime: Email | X | Facebook | 315-470-3148