EPA RCRA ID: PAD003010345
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) is the public law that creates the framework for the proper management of hazardous and non-hazardous solid waste. Corrective action is a requirement under RCRA that facilities that treat, store or dispose of hazardous wastes, or did so in the past, investigate and clean up hazardous releases into soil, groundwater, surface water and air. For more information, and for more information on RCRA-specific terms used on this page, please visit EPA’s umbrella RCRA web page or EPA’s RCRA Corrective Action page.
On this page:
- Cleanup Activities
- Facility Description
- Institutional/Engineering Controls
- Enforcement and Compliance
- Related Information and Publicly Available Electronic Records
- Contacts for this Facility
Cleanup Activities
Adhesives Research Inc. has completed the environmental cleanup at their Glen Rock, Pennsylvania facility. The following paragraphs describe the releases that occurred at the Adhesives Research Inc. facility, as well as the corrective measures taken by the facility to remediate the releases.
On December 14, 1987, a fire in the northeast corner of the facility's main manufacturing building occurred when a spark ignited during the transfer of vinyl ethyl ether from a mixing tank to a 55 gallon drum. The release of chemicals to the environment occurred when water used to fight the fire flooded the immediate area of the fire. Approximately 32,000 gallons of this contaminated water was collected and transported off-site by trucks. An additional 90,000 gallons of water were treated by an on-site carbon treatment system. A soil gas analysis survey indicated that the soils in the area had not been substantially impacted by the spill, therefore soil excavation was not required. On-site groundwater wells were tested repeatedly during a two year period following the fire incident. All of these sampling results revealed that the groundwater under the facility had not been impacted by the spill.
In 1990, two leaky underground farm use fuel tanks located on the facility property were removed. Approximately 16.47 tons of contaminated soil was excavated and disposed of off-site. Groundwater continued to be sampled at three locations near the tank removal area, and the results were sent to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) for review. No detectable amounts of petroleum hydrocarbons were found in any of the groundwater samples.
In 1992, seven underground storage tanks were removed from the facility. Leakage of fuel oil to the surrounding soils had occurred at two of these tanks. Approximately 40 tons of contaminated soil were excavated under PADEP oversight. Subsequent groundwater sampling at the facility found no detectable amounts of petroleum hydrocarbons in any of the groundwater samples.
After performing a facility inspection, and an evaluation of past remediation practices, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) believes that no further corrective action is necessary at the Adhesives Research Inc. facility. On October 22, 1999, EPA completed the 45 day public comment period for the Adhesives Research Inc. facility, during which time no comments were received on EPA's proposal that no further corrective action is necessary at this time. Therefore, EPA has adopted the proposed decision as the final decision.
Cleanup Actions or environmental indicators characterizing the entire facility are shown below. This listing, and all the data on this page, come from EPA’s RCRAInfo and are refreshed nightly to this page. For this table, a blank in the Status column could mean the action either has not occurred or has not been reported in RCRAInfo.
Cleanup Activities Pertaining to the Entire Facility
| Action | Status | Date of Action |
|---|---|---|
| Human Exposure Under Control Human Exposure Under Control(CA725) | ||
| Groundwater Migration Under ControlGroundwater Migration Under Control (CA750) | ||
| Remedy DecisionRemedy Decision (CA400) | ||
| Remedy ConstructionRemedy Construction (CA550) | ||
| Ready for Anticipated Use Ready for Anticipated Use (CA800) | ||
| Performance Standards AttainedPerformance Standards Attained (CA900) | ||
| Corrective Action Process TerminatedCorrective Action Process Terminated (CA999) |
For definitions of the terms used, hover over or click on the term.
Cleanup Activities Pertaining to a Portion of the Facility
| Action | Area Name | Date of Action |
|---|
For definitions of the terms used, hover over or click on the term.
Facility Description
Link to a larger, interactive view of the map.
The Adhesives Research Inc. facility consists of approximately 12.5 acres located on Route 216 in Glen Rock, Pennsylvania, and is located in a largely agricultural area. Operations at this facility began in 1974, and continue today. Adhesives Research Inc. manufactures pressure sensitive adhesives and applies adhesive to a variety of media, including foams, plastic sheets, paper, and some metals. This process generates non-chlorinated solvents such as methyl ethyl ketone, toluene, xylene, heptane, and hexane as hazardous wastes. This waste is stored at the facility for less than ninety days before being shipped off-site for disposal. The threat of contamination to the environment at the Adhesives Research Inc. facility has been controlled, and the contaminants of concern have been cleaned up within acceptable levels.
The threat of contamination to the environment at the Adhesives Research Inc. facility has been controlled, and the contaminants of concern have been cleaned up within acceptable levels.
Institutional and Engineering Controls at this Facility
Institutional Controls were not required at the site.
Institutional and Engineering Controls help ensure human exposure and groundwater migration are under control at a cleanup facility. Where control types have been reported by states and EPA in EPA’s RCRAInfo, they are shown below. Not all control types are needed at all facilities, and some facilities do not require any controls. Where there are blanks, the control types may not be needed, may not be in place, or may not be reported in RCRAInfo.
Are Controls in Place at this Facility?
| Control(s) Type | Control(s) in Place? | Areas Subject to Control(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|
Institutional ControlsNon-engineering controls used to restrict land use or land access in order to protect people and the environment from exposure to hazardous substances remaining in the site/or facility. (CA 772) | Informational DevicesInformational Devices (ID) | ||
| Governmental Controls (GC) | |||
| Enforcement and Permit Tools (EP) | |||
| Proprietary ControlsProprietary Controls (PR) | |||
Engineering ControlsEngineering measures designed to minimize the potential for human exposure to contamination by either limiting direct contact with contaminated areas or controlling migration of contaminants. (CA 770) | Groundwater ControlGroundwater Control (GW) | ||
Non-Groundwater | |||
For definitions of the terms used, hover over or click on the term.
Enforcement and Compliance at this Facility
EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) provides detailed historical information about enforcement and compliance activities at each RCRA Corrective Action Site in their Enforcement and Compliance Historical Online (ECHO) system.
RCRA Enforcement and Compliance Reports from ECHO
Related Information and Publicly Available Electronic Records
For more information about this facility, see these other EPA links:
- RCRA information in EPA’s Envirofacts database
- Information about this facility submitted to EPA under different environmental programs as reported in EPA’s Facility Registry Services
- Alternative Names for this facility as reported by EPA programs in EPA’s Facility Registry Services
- Cleanups in My Community provides an interactive map to see EPA cleanups in context with additional data, and lists for downloading data
- Search RCRA Corrective Action Sites provides a search feature for Corrective Action Sites
Documents, Photos and Graphics
Contacts for this Facility
EPA Region implements and enforces the RCRA Corrective Action program for and federally recognized tribes.
For further information on this corrective action site, use the Contact Information for Corrective Action Hazardous Waste Clean Ups listings that are accessible through Corrective Action Programs around the Nation.