The Mid-State Disposal, Inc. Landfill covers 160 acres in Cleveland Township, Marathon County, Wisconsin. It accepted municipal, industrial, and commercial waste from 1970 to 1979, including paper mill sludge, asbestos dust, solvents, pesticides, paint sludge, and metals. The site was assessed in September 1983 and added to the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1984. The NPL is the federal list of hazardous waste sites that need long-term cleanup attention.
Fourteen contaminants of concern have been identified at the site, found in groundwater, leachate, and sludge. These include volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as benzene, trichloroethene, tetrachloroethene, vinyl chloride, and dichloromethane, as well as metals including cadmium, chromium, manganese, nickel, and iron. The main risk pathway involves people ingesting or coming into contact with contaminated groundwater.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) selected a cleanup remedy in September 1988, with an amendment issued in August 1995. Cleanup work included building an engineered cap over the landfill, extracting landfill gas, collecting and treating leachate, replacing water supplies for affected residents, and putting institutional controls in place to restrict site use. Cap construction finished in September 1994, and all remedial action was completed by February 1995. Two Consent Decrees, established in 1989 and 1992, guided the cleanup process.
The site reached sitewide ready-for-anticipated-reuse status in June 2016. Physical construction is complete across the entire site, human exposure is under control, and contaminated groundwater migration has been stabilized. EPA continues operation and maintenance activities, along with ongoing monitoring of groundwater, surface water, and landfill gas. The most recent five-year review, completed in July 2024, found that the cleanup protects people and the environment in the short term. The next five-year review is scheduled for 2029. The site has not yet been deleted from the NPL.
Community members with questions can contact the EPA's Community Involvement Coordinator or Remedial Project Manager.
