OCRRA formally reopens expanded Amboy compost facility

CAMILLUS — The Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency (OCRRA) has formally reopened its compost site in the Amboy section of Camillus, following what the agency called “an extensive remodel.”

The renovation work has transformed the Amboy site into New York’s “largest municipal food scrap [and] yard-waste composting facility,” OCRRA contended in a news release.

The agency held a reception Thursday morning to mark the official reopening.

OCRRA used the event to highlight its efforts to keep commercial and institutional food scraps out of the trash. The Amboy site recycles food scraps into soil amendment, or what is also known as compost.

Compost returns “valuable” nutrients to the soil and “improves” the environment when used in gardens, landscapes, and green infrastructure projects, OCRRA said.

Haulers deliver food scraps from local businesses or nonprofits, including Syracuse University, Destiny USA, Upstate University Hospital, Wegmans, Ramada Inn, the Oncenter, the Marcellus Central School District, and Pastabilities, a restaurant in Armory Square.

OCRRA then uses technology, such as a rotary drum, to recycle food scraps into finely-screened compost.

The agency contends its process is “roughly 80 percent more efficient than other approaches,” noting it takes only 60 days to create OCRRA compost instead of the usual 270 days.

The compost is available for purchase in bulk at both the Amboy and Jamesville compost facilities and at more than a dozen local retailers, the agency added.

At 15 percent, food scraps are currently the largest component of trash that is not mandated for recycling, Greg Gelewski, OCRRA recycling-operations manager, said in the news release.

“We expanded this facility to help our community further reduce its waste and ‘close the loop.’ Food scraps are turned into compost that revitalizes local soil and grows healthy plants and vegetables that eventually become food scraps and on-and-on the cycle continues,” Gelewski said.

The event’s speakers included Lori Scozzafava, executive director of the Bethesda, Md.–based U.S. Composting Council, who congratulated OCRRA on the project.

“I know a lot of work has gone into this effort, building a well-run operation and expanding it to include food scraps is a phenomenal issue, and I truly believe that Onondaga County will be better off for having this facility in place,” Scozzafava said in her remarks during the event.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com