EPA proposes cleanup plan for contaminated New Jersey scrap yard

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Washington, has proposed a cleanup plan to address lead and contamination on a portion of Matteo & Sons Inc.’s Superfund Site in West Deptford, New Jersey. The estimated cost of the cleanup is $72 million. The cleanup area includes the Matteo facility at 1692 Crown Point Rd. as well as a property across the street formerly occupied by Mira Trucking, the EPA reports in a news release.

The property was acquired by the Matteo family in 1947. It consists of 82.5 acres, and the property includes a scrap yard and an open field and waste disposal area. The EPA reports that the Matteo family operated an unregistered landfill, junkyard and metals recycling facility at the site starting in 1961, and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection approved the family’s request to operate an incinerator to burn copper wire in 1971.

Former operations in this area of the Matteo site included crushing batteries, recycling batteries and landfilling, which contaminated the soil, sediment and groundwater with lead, antimony and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Currently, the southern portion of the Matteo property along U.S. Highway 130 is an active metal salvaging facility that accepts scrap metal from individual, commercial and industrial customers. 

“EPA’s cleanup plan removes the main source of contamination within the Matteo site to address the potential exposure pathways,” says EPA Regional Administrator Pete Lopez. “As part of our ongoing work at the Matteo & Sons Inc. Superfund Site, EPA has already removed more than 1,250 cubic yards of lead-contaminated material from nearby properties, and we are now proposing to excavate an estimated 92,000 cubic yards of additional material. This plan reflects EPA’s commitment to prioritize the Superfund program and ensure that these sites are cleaned up as quickly and safely as possible.”

Matteo & Sons has committed to pay about $820,000 toward cleanup costs, the EPA reports. The EPA is proposing to dig up and properly dispose of battery casing waste and contaminated soil within the Matteo facility and the property formerly occupied by Mira Trucking that poses a potential risk to people’s health, the EPA reports in a news release. The plan requires that excavated areas then be backfilled with clean fill and that contaminated soil within a 10-acre active scrap yard area be covered with asphalt or similar material. EPA reports that it will sample the soil during the cleanup to ensure that the cleanup work is effective. EPA will also conduct a review of the cleanup every five years to ensure its effectiveness. EPA will further assess options for addressing the sediment and groundwater after the completion of the soil cleanup.

Additionally, the EPA is holding a public meeting at 6:30 p.m. on July 17 to explain the proposed cleanup plan for the Matteo facility property and the property formerly occupied by Mira Trucking at the RiverWinds Community Center in West Deptford to take public comments on the cleanup.