Phase 1 of Cleanup at Former Unimatic Manufacturing Corp. Building in Fairfield Nears Completion

FAIRIFELD, NJ -- Using a total of approximately $30 million in funding from the Infrastructure Law, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) demolished the heavily contaminated building at the Unimatic Manufacturing Corp. Superfund site in Fairfield and has finished removing contaminated soil from the site, the EPA announced on Friday.

In September, U.S. Army Corps contractors will dig up and remove sediment in wetlands and streams downstream from this site and will also monitor groundwater.

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“The cleanup of this Superfund site is a great example of how the community and the EPA work together to alleviate the concerns of our residents by eliminating dangerous chemicals from our Township. There have been approximately 50 thousand tons of hazardous material removed from Fairfield. This has been accomplished through the oversight of the EPA without increasing the local tax one penny,” said Fairfield Mayor William Galese. “On behalf of the grateful residents of Fairfield, I would like to thank the EPA for eliminating this threat from our town.”

The Unimatic Manufacturing Corporation site is one of 115 Superfund sites in New Jersey. The metals molding facility operated machines using lubricating oil that contained polychlorinated biphenyls, also referred to as PCBs. Wastewater from the facility contaminated the on-site building, soil and groundwater, including the soil on three nearby properties. As a result, EPA placed the Unimatic Manufacturing Corporation site on the Superfund Program’s National Priorities List in May 2014.

Prior to EPA’s involvement, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection oversaw the removal of approximately 5,000 tons of PCB-contaminated soil from the Unimatic property, which reduced some risk associated with the site. However, widespread PCB- and pesticide-contaminated soil remained in the subsurface, both underneath and outside the building footprint.

In 2021, EPA announced the cleanup at the site would advance as part of the first wave of sites to benefit from the $3.5 billion in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help clean up polluted Superfund sites in communities.

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EPA initiated the cleanup in 2023, demolishing the former Unimatic building in May and beginning to dig up and remove contaminated soil last October. To date, EPA has removed over 50,000 tons of PCB and pesticide contaminated soil and replaced it with clean soil. In September, this first phase of the cleanup will come to an end and the EPA will begin the second phase of cleanup work, digging up and removing PCB-contaminated sediment in wetlands and streams downstream from the site and monitoring groundwater.

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