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EPA Cleans Up Abandoned Site in Mercer County, New Jersey

Release Date: 03/27/2007
Contact Information: Pat Carr (212) 637-3652, [email protected]

(New York, N.Y.) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has stepped in to clean up an abandoned automotive brake pad manufacturing facility located on the border of Lawrence Township and the City of Trenton in Mercer County, NJ. The site, formerly home of Friction Division Products Inc. was left littered with asbestos material, elemental sulfur, acids, flammable liquids and solids, waste oil, solvents, and metallic compounds in more than 500 drums and containers, including dozens of drums of unknown materials.

“The conditions and minimal security at this facility created the potential for an environmental disaster,” said Regional Administrator Alan J. Steinberg. “At the request of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, we are stepping in to rid this community of dangerous chemicals and materials left behind by the former owner who pulled up stakes and moved to Pennsylvania.”

From the early 60’s to 1996, automotive brake shoes and pads were manufactured at the site by two companies, most recently Friction Division Products. The company moved from New Jersey and resumed doing business in Pennsylvania. EPA secured the site and started the clean up after negotiations with the company to carry out the clean up failed. To address the contamination left on site, EPA will inventory and categorize the chemicals by sampling, sort the material for recycling or disposal and ship all hazardous materials off site. The cleanup is expected to take approximately three months and cost about $500,000.

See https://www.epa.gov/superfund/programs/er/hazsubs/supers.htm for more information on EPA’s Superfund Response Program.

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