Asbestos Dump

Overview

The Asbestos Dump site sits in Millington, Morris County, New Jersey, and covers an 11-acre former asbestos manufacturing facility plus three satellite disposal sites totaling 49 acres. The main plant operated from 1927 to 1975. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1983. The NPL guides federal decisions on which contaminated sites need cleanup. The site has since been fully cleaned up and deleted from the NPL, with the White Bridge Road satellite removed in 2002 and the remaining portions removed in 2010.

Contaminants found at the site include asbestos, arsenic, benzene, cadmium, mercury, nickel, trichloroethene, bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate, and lead. Asbestos was detected in soil, groundwater, surface water, and air at the main Millington site and in soil and air at the satellite sites. Lead was found in soil at the Dietzman Tract, a 7-acre area inside the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. Before cleanup, erosion had exposed asbestos along the Passaic River bank at the main site.

Cleanup was organized into three operable units, meaning distinct areas addressed separately. Work included capping exposed areas, installing soil cover, stabilizing slopes, solidifying buried asbestos waste, and excavating and consolidating contaminated material at the Dietzman Tract. The Department of the Interior managed the Dietzman Tract cleanup, removing asbestos and lead-contaminated soil, stabilizing remaining materials in place, and installing a protective soil cap. Construction across all areas was completed in June 2000. Operation and maintenance activities continue at the Millington site and the Dietzman Tract, and the cap at the Dietzman Tract is inspected regularly with ongoing groundwater, surface water, and sediment monitoring.

EPA has determined that human exposure is under control across the entire site and that the remedies protect human health and the environment. Five-year reviews are conducted on a regular schedule to confirm this. The most recent review was completed in September 2025. The site has been returned to productive use: the Millington property now holds commercial office buildings, the White Bridge Road site hosts a residential property and horse farm, and 25 acres of the New Vernon Road site are now part of the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge.

Community members can review site records at the Long Hill Township Library in Gillette, New Jersey, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office at Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, or the EPA Records Center in New York City. For questions, residents can contact the EPA's Community Involvement Coordinator or Remedial Project Manager.