A newly-constructed Department of Sanitation facility in Gowanus serves two purposes: expanding snow and composting operations to Brooklyn, and making space for a long-delayed part of the Gowanus Canal Superfund cleanup.
The $24 million project, unveiled Thursday just a stone’s throw from the old DSNY salt lot on 2nd Avenue, can store 6 million pounds of road salt and process 600,000 pounds of compost a year, according to the mayor’s office.
It was designed, funded and built by the Department of Environmental Protection, not DSNY. To support the federal scrub of the Gowanus Canal, DEP is required to build two massive sewer overflow tanks.
The smaller of the two, called Owls Head, is slated to be built on the north side of the salt lot, displacing the DSNY facility and Big Reuse compost site, along with the Gowanus Canal Conservancy’s plant nursery and several industrial businesses.
“From the beginning, we were clear that cleaning up the Gowanus Canal could not come at the expense of critical Sanitation services,” said DSNY commissioner Gregory Anderson, in a statement. “DEP heard this message, and they delivered. I am proud to cut this ribbon alongside so many partners and advocates today.”
The new facility marks a significant improvement on the old salt shed. To support the weight of 3,000 tons of salt, it was constructed with reinforced underground supports and can store 75 blow blades and brine tanks, all needed to keep roads clear and relatively ice-free during snowstorms. Lights and equipment on the site will be powered, at least in part, by rooftop solar panels that can generate up to 80,000 watts of energy.
It also brought back the Big Reuse community composting site, the largest community composting site in Brooklyn. Big Reuse uses aerated bays to turn organic waste into nutrient-dense soil that’s redistributed to community gardens, urban farms, and street tree care.
The new facility, which officially opened last month, offers food scrap drop-off as well as regular volunteer days and community education events,
“Big Reuse has worked over the last decade in partnership with DSNY to develop and operate innovative composting programs and systems to support parks, communities, and green infrastructure,” said Justin Green, executive director of Big Reuse, in a statement. “We are thrilled by the remarkable efforts of the entire team at DEP, who collaborated with the community to rebuild and enhance the site so we can continue this vital work.”
Construction of CSO tank moves forward
With the DSNY facility finished, construction of the Owls Head tank is moving forward, at long last.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency ordered the city to build two sewage retention tanks — Owls Hook and Red Hook — to protect the yearslong, multi-billion dollar federal Superfund cleanup of the Gowanus Canal. Without the tanks in place, combined sewer overflow would continue to pour into the canal during rainstorms, re-contaminating it and potentially requiring additional cleanup.
The city pushed back construction for years, drawing the ire of the EPA. In 2021, the EPA ordered the city to complete the Owls Head tank by 2028, and the Red Hook tank by 2029.
Though the city repeatedly claimed the EPA’s timeline would be impossible it meet, it broke ground on both projects in 2023. Lisa Garcia, then an an EPA administrator and worked closely with the city on the construction of the tanks, is now the DEP commissioner.
DEP has finished building underground perimeter walls, according to City Hall, and plans to start excavation this spring. Excavation had previously been set to begin in the spring of 2025, with construction set to wrap up next summer.
The agency finished excavation for the Red Hook tank last spring, with construction planned to wrap up in the fall of 2026. But, in a December 2025 update, the EPA said the concrete base of the Red Hook tank was expected to be finished in late 2026, not the entire project.
A DEP spokesperson said the agency and its federal partners “agreed on an aggressive timeline to complete the project and are proceeding with construction based on that schedule.”
Both tanks are expected to come online in 2029, they said. “Related construction projects,” including a new park and head house at Red Hook and a park, kayak launch and public education outpost at Owls Head, will be completed the following year.
