The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency began work to remove contaminated materials from the 30-acre Charles Batchelder Co. site on Swamp Road in Newtown, with the process expected to last two months.
The site was home for four decades to an aluminum smelting facility, and is now abandoned. Piles of fine metal waste at the site are contaminated with cadmium, lead, chromium, and PCBs, among other materials.
The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection had requested EPA assistance at a number of sites in Connecticut, with EPA touring the Batchelder site in April.
Newtown has yet to hammer out plans for a new use for the property.
