Jacksonville Municipal Landfill

Overview

The Jacksonville Municipal Landfill covers 40 acres in Lonoke County, Arkansas, near the Pulaski County line. It operated as a sanitary landfill from 1960 to 1973, accepting municipal waste and drums of industrial waste from a local herbicide manufacturer called Vertac. The site was closed in 1973 because of a high water table and poor drainage. The EPA added it to the Superfund National Priorities List in 1987 after the city fenced the property in 1986 to keep the public out.

EPA identified twelve contaminants of concern at the site. Six were found in groundwater, including benzene, chromium, barium, selenium, chlorobenzene, chloroethene (also called vinyl chloride), and 1,1-dichloroethene. Six more were detected in solid waste, including 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD, a type of dioxin), along with several herbicide-related compounds such as 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid and 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid. All contamination is addressed under one cleanup unit covering the entire site.

Cleanup work included excavating dioxin-contaminated soils and sending them off-site for thermal treatment. Workers capped the remaining waste in place and put institutional controls in place to stop residents from disturbing the cap or drawing groundwater from the site. Remedial action began in January 1994 and construction finished in September 1995. The EPA deleted the site from the National Priorities List in March 2000 after confirming cleanup goals had been met.

Human exposure and groundwater migration are both under control. EPA has found no unacceptable exposure pathways and has confirmed that contaminated groundwater is not spreading. The city of Jacksonville continues to restrict access to the site and maintain the cleanup remedy. EPA conducts five-year reviews to confirm the remedy keeps protecting human health and the environment. The most recent five-year review was completed in September 2025. The site reached sitewide ready for anticipated reuse status in October 2007.

Community members with questions can contact EPA's Community Involvement Coordinator or the Remedial Project Manager. For state-level questions, contact the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality.