Note: This information is provided for reference purposes only. Although the information provided here was accurate and current when first created, it is now outdated.

From 1919 to 1989, Raymark Industries operated a brake manufacturing facility on 33 acres in Stratford, Connecticut. During these 70 years of operation, manufacturing wastes containing asbestos, lead and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were commonly disposed of as fill on the property and on residential, commercial and municipal properties throughout the town of Stratford. In 1993, a public health advisory was issued by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry in cooperation with the Connecticut Department of Health warning of the risks from exposure to Raymark's manufacturing waste found throughout the town. In response to the health advisory, EPA began hazardous waste removal work at several residential properties in September, 1993. Over the next two years, EPA completed the excavation of Raymark waste from the yards of 47 homes while, at the same time, the State of Connecticut completed excavation activities on the baseball fields at the town's middle school. These excavation activities have resulted in the return of approximately 100,000 cubic yards of Raymark waste to the original facility where it presently sits in 20-30 foot high stockpiles. EPA signed a Record of Decision -- the document which lays out the cleanup plan -- on July 3, 1995, which included the demolition of all buildings on-site and the capping (with a geosynthetic clay liner) of the entire 33-acre-facility. EPA quickly began demolition at the facility in September 1995. Today, over 90% of the 15 acres of buildings have been demolished. The ultimate goal is to make this Superfund site the first in the nation that is put back into beneficial economic use. EPA Administrator Carol Browner called the Raymark cleanup "a model for the country."