A.O. Polymer Superfund Site
A.O. Polymer Site: Easy Summary
The A.O. Polymer site is in Sparta Township, Sussex County, New Jersey. The company made resins, plastics and solvents and also reclaimed used solvents. Poor waste handling allowed liquids to leak into the soil and groundwater, which threatened drinking water from the Allentown Aquifer for Sparta and nearby towns.
What happened and why it’s a problem
- Contaminants from the site got into soil and underground water, affecting wells that supplied drinking water.
- In the 1970s and 1980s, cleanup efforts began, but the state’s early actions mostly moved waste rather than fixing the problem.
- The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stepped in in 1982 to start serious cleanup work, after the site was found to be a major health and environmental risk.
Key cleanup actions
- The site was listed on the National Priorities List (a list of the most dangerous polluted sites) on September 8, 1983.
- The EPA removed large amounts of waste in the early 1980s and set up systems to clean both soil and groundwater.
- A soil vapor extraction system began in 1995 to remove contaminants from beneath the waste pits.
- A groundwater treatment system was used to clean the underground water, removing hundreds of millions of gallons of contaminated water over time.
- By 2008, there were no hazardous discharges to surface water from the site.
What happened to the site’s status
- The site was partially removed from the National Priorities List around 2000–2002 after cleanup progress.
- The A.O. Polymer site was sold for redevelopment in 2009.
- As of around 2017, the site had not yet been ready for reuse, though cleanup work had made significant progress and the area was being prepared for potential redevelopment.
Why it matters
- The Allentown Aquifer provides drinking water for Sparta and other nearby communities, so cleaning up this site helped protect a major local water supply.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 06:24 (CET).