Success for Toxic Landfill Clean Up in New Jersey

17 November 2011

A cleanup operation at the Sayreville Landfill Superfund site in Sayreville, New Jersey and has been completed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

From 1971 to August 1977, the Sayreville Landfill was operated by the Borough of Sayreville as a licensed municipal landfill that accepted solid waste and some industrial waste.

The EPA says that hazardous waste was suspected of being dumped at the site during and after the landfill stopped operating in 1977. The site was added to the federal Superfund list in 1983.

According to the agency, the soil and ground water at the closed 30-acre landfill were contaminated with volatile organic compounds, cadmium, lead, benzene, arsenic and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Volatile organic compounds (VOC) can evaporate into the air and potentially impact people's health.

Meanwhile lead is a toxic metal that can cause damage to a child's ability to learn and a range of health problems in adults, and excessive exposure to cadmium can cause cancer and benzene is a known cancer-causing chemical.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are a group of chemicals that are formed during the incomplete burning of coal, oil, gas, wood, garbage, or other organic substances and can cause cancer.

The EPA says that over 30 drums were removed from the site, a system to control stormwater and contain methane gas was installed and the site was capped.

The work was carried out in conjunction with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and overseen by EPA.

Following a review of conditions at the site, the EPA determined that the cleanup continues to protect people's health and the environment. The EPA proposed to delete the site from the Superfund list in August and encouraged members of the public to submit comments during a 30-day public comment period.

According to the agency, the site has now been removed its Superfund list of the country's most hazardous waste sites.


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