Hazardous Waste Cleanup: Honeywell International Incorporated in Morristown, New Jersey
On this page:
- Cleanup Status
- Site Description
- Contaminants at this Facility
- Site Responsibility
Cleanup Status
In the 1970s and 1980s, the company ceased operation of the impoundments and pits, and cleaned up the soil and sediment by excavating the material and disposing of it off-site at a waste disposal facility. Allied then backfilled the excavated areas with clean soil.
To clean up the contaminated groundwater under the Allied site, the company installed a series of wells that pump out the water and send it to an on-site treatment system. Once the water is treated to acceptable health and safety standards, it is discharged to a sewer system. The groundwater pump and treat system not only cleans the water, but because it is continually pulling the contaminated water from the ground, prevents the contamination from spreading.
The groundwater at the site is not permitted to be used as drinking water. The pump and treat system will continue well into the future, as will groundwater monitoring to ensure that the contamination is confined and does not spread.
Site Description
Honeywell International Incorporated, formerly known as Allied-Signal, Inc. is located at 101 Columbia Road in Morristown, New Jersey. Honeywell International has occupied this approximately 170-acre site in Morris Township since 1946. The company conducts research into polymers, metals, ceramics, electronic materials and devices, and into other areas of bio and analytical science.
Honeywell International's activities over the years generated various chemical waste products, which it managed in on-site surface impoundments (man-made "ponds" in which contaminants in liquid settle to the bottom) and pits. Over time the chemical wastes were released from these areas into the soil, groundwater and sediment of the site.
Contaminants at this Facility
The groundwater is contaminated with carbon tetrachloride and chloroform. Sediments at the Honeywell International site were contaminated with metals such as chromium, copper, lead, nickel and zinc. The soil was contaminated with a number of semi-volatile organic chemicals including benzo(a)anthracene, chrysene, benzo(a)pyrene, benzo (b) fluoranthene and indeno(1,2,3-cd)pyrene.
Site Responsibility at this Facility
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Corrective Action activities at this facility have been conducted under the direction of EPA Region 2.