Refuse Collection and Disposal
The Village of Marcellus contracts out all of its residential garbage and
recycling collections.  All residences automatically receive refuse and
recycling collection once weekly, on Wednesdays and there is a refuse
rate charge per unit per quarter. Most residents in the Village are billed
for a single unit each quarter, although other property owners, including
businesses, are billed for more units because of multiple dwellings or
because more than usual amounts of refuse are generated.

Marcellus, New York Waste Control

In the early part of the 20th century, Frank Knapp and Edmund Reed were responsible
for building the first sewer line in the village. On May 13, 1912, the Village Trustees
granted them permission to install a sewer line to service First Street from Maiden Lane
(now Slocombe Street) north to Reed Avenue, and also Reed Avenue on which Reed
was building new houses. The sewer emptied into a septic tank, somewhere in the
area behind Knapp’s home on Reed Street. The overflow was allowed to drain into a
ditch to the north, through the Reed property, and into the creek near the Stone farm.
On April 14, 1919, the school board was
granted permission by the village authorities
to lay a sewer line from the High School down
West Main Street to the Clark property at
17 West Main, across Clark’s land to
South Street, and thence across South Street.
About the same time Knapp, Horace Stone,
and William Spaulding began to develop
Bradley Street, so this line also serviced
Bradley Street, and overflowed into an open
ditch leading to the creek.

Construction and Upgrading of Sanitary Sewer System
 It was not until the late 1920s that there was much talk about
constructing a sanitary sewer system for the entire village. In the
election of March 1931, the voters of the Village approved a bond
of $75,000 for that purpose, by a vote of 107 to 76. Under the
leadership of Mayor Michael J. Thornton, the Village hired a
contractor and began to prepare lines for the sewer system
through private rights of way. By the end of the 1930s, most of
the Village residents had been ordered to hook onto the municipal
sewer system, one that drained into a septic tank (imhoff type)
before eventually emptying into Nine Mile Creek.

By the 1950’s, standards regulating the discharge of pollutants
into state surface and ground waters were being rewritten by the
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
In 1958, the Village of Marcellus authorized the construction of
additions to and reconstruction of its sanitary sewer system to
meet the standard of primary treatment (removal of solids from
the waste water) determined by the DEC. Construction of the
Waste Water Pollution Control Plant would cost over $100,000,
part of which monies would be secured from a grant of the
Federal Water Pollution Control Act.

In 1967, the Village would authorize an upgrade of the Marcellus Treatment Plant so as to provide
for secondary treatment (biological oxidation under controlled processes to further purify the water)
of sewage, bringing it in compliance with new standards determined by the State DEC.

This authorization would require the expenditure of over $300,000 and the plant, when completed
would have a 350,000 gal. capacity and would be able to serve about 3,500 people. Again,
Federal and New York State governments would provide funds would contribute about 60% of
the cost with local taxpayers picking up the balance.

By 1982, there was some concern among Village officials that connections to and the discharge
of water and wastes into the public sewer system were overwhelming the system. Corrective
measures were enacted, penalties were provided for violations and sewer rates were formalized
as a result. There was also a concern brought to the attention of the Board of Trustees that a
single property in the Village has never been connected to the Village sewer system and remained
on a septic system. To this day, that property remains the only one in the Village that still maintains
a septic system in the Village. In 1986, another major upgrade to the treatment plant witnessed the
addition of clarifier equipment, a project that cost over $80,000.

Sewer Fund
The Village’s primary means of financing the annual costs of owning
and operating its sewer system is through revenues derived via user
charges and credited to the Sewer Fund. Should the revenues not
meet the expenditures required to own and operate the system, the
Village must draw upon its taxing and assessment authority and
meet the balance through its General Fund.

· mixed paper and junk mail
· magazines, catalogs and telephone books
· corrugated cardboard, no larger than 3’ by 3’
· aluminum and tin cans, rinsed clean
· aerosol cans which are empty
· glass bottles and jars, clear and colored, rinsed clean
· milk and juice cartons
· plastics labeled #1 and #2
· pizza boxes

TWO BINS ARE BETTER THAN ONE!

The recycling program in Onondaga County has proven to be one of the most successful in the
country. In addition, “Operation Separation” as it is called, is one of the programs of the Onondaga
County Resource Recovery Agency (OCRRA) that has led the way in promoting an environmentally
sound plan to also deal with electronic waste (computers, televisions, etc.), and hazardous waste
(pesticides, herbicides, paints and paint thinner, cleaning supplies, etc.) as well as the recycling
of old hardcover and paperback books. This is a program that has been emulated in communities
throughout the country and the Village of Marcellus is proud to be a part of this significant endeavor.

Most Recent Upgrade
In 1999, the Village of Marcellus began the single largest upgrade to its sewage treatment plant.
Having secured over $720,000 in Environmental Bond Act monies from the State of New York, the
Village completed a major adjustment in its treatment of sludge disposal by utilizing a belt
dewatering system. The Marcellus Sewage Treatment Plant, one of only four village systems in
the entire County of Onondaga, completed its upgrade in the summer of 2000, a total project cost
of $1.25 million. Its rehabilitation is more than adequate to meet the needs of another generation
of Village residents.

There is sometimes a delay in collection in the Village due to
holidays and these delays are announced to residents in a
quarterly newsletter. In an agreement, approved in December of
1981, with the Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency, the
Village of Marcellus has committed its solid waste and recyclables
to that agency. The following materials are acceptable for recycling
and are placed in blue bins which are provided (two, if requested) to
residents for their use:

Waste Control

Established 1853

Ryan Riefler

Greg Crysler