The Douglas Road/Uniroyal Inc. Landfill is a 16-acre former disposal site in Mishawaka, Indiana. An unlined landfill operated there from 1954 to 1979, accepting solvents, fly ash, rubber, plastic wrap, paper, wood stock, and roughly 6,000 barrels of waste. That waste contaminated both soil and groundwater. The site was added to the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1989 and split into three operable units to make cleanup more manageable.
EPA identified 15 contaminants of concern, all found in soil within the capped landfill area. They include metals such as antimony, arsenic, beryllium, chromium, and nickel, along with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). EPA determined these substances pose unacceptable risks to human health or the environment.
Cleanup has involved several steps carried out through a partnership among EPA, the State of Indiana, and the City of Mishawaka. Workers extended public water supplies to about 100 homes where groundwater was contaminated. They installed a multilayer cap over the landfill, collected landfill gas, and built an artificial wetland to extract and treat contaminated groundwater. EPA and the city also designed and built a filter strip to clean discharge flowing into Juday Creek, with EPA covering half the construction costs. Major construction wrapped up on September 19, 2000. The state took over operation and maintenance in 2003, and the site was transferred to Indiana in November 2011.
Human exposure is currently under control across the entire site, with no unacceptable exposure pathways identified. Groundwater contamination is stabilized, and monitoring continues to confirm it stays in its original area. The landfill cap portion of the site received a partial deletion from the NPL on September 30, 2020. The groundwater portion remains on the NPL, and operation, maintenance, and treatment are ongoing. The most recent five-year review was completed on July 19, 2022, with the next one estimated between July and September 2027.
Community members can share concerns about site conditions with EPA during the five-year review process. Site documents are available at the Mishawaka-Penn Public Library at 209 Lincoln Way East in Mishawaka. Residents can also call EPA toll-free at 800-621-8431 on weekdays from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., or contact the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. The EPA's Remedial Project Manager is also available for questions.
