central landfill

65 SHUN PIKE

This active landfill is currently owned and operated by the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation - RIRRC (formerly the Rhode Island Solid Waste Management Corporation) and receives approximately 85 percent of Rhode Island's solid waste. The landfill is currently comprised of five areas. One of these areas, a 121-acre area (sometimes called the Phase 1 area), was used prior to 1980 for the disposal of municipal and hazardous waste. The other four areas (Phases 2, 3, 4 and 5) have been used to dispose of municipal solid waste. Landfilling in the Phase 2 and 3 areas stopped in July 2003. There are also plans for additional expansions beyond the Phase 5 area. Located within the 121-acre, Phase 1 area is an approximately 1/2 acre area where a minimum of 1.5 million gallons of documented hazardous wastes were disposed of between 1976 and 1979. Within this 1/2 acre hazardous waste area, bulk liquid waste was dumped into trenches that had previously been excavated into bedrock. The wastes disposed of in this area included latex waste, acid waste, corrosive waste, water soluble oils and waste solvents, including methylene chloride, toluene, 1,1,1-trichlorethane and tetrachloroethylene (PCE). EPA believes that, prior to 1976, a large quantity of non manifested liquid hazardous waste was also disposed of in this 1/2 acre area. In 1982, the owner complied with a State order to close the areas that had received hazardous material. These areas have been excavated, backfilled, and capped to minimize further contamination of the groundwater and surface water, and revegetated as part of the closure plan. Approximately 4,000 people live within 3 miles of the site. The bedrock aquifer underlying the site has been contaminated.