Companies responsible for asbestos waste contamination at a New Jersey site will remove about 6,500 tons of contaminated soil under a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency cleanup plan.

W.R. Grace & Co. operated the former vermiculite processing facility in Hamilton, N.J., which processed vermiculite ore from Montana, for more than 40 years. Naturally occurring asbestos in the ore contaminated the site and surrounding areas.

The EPA completed the first phase of the cleanup in April 2004, removing 9,200 tons of asbestos-contaminated soil from the site. In the second phase, a contaminated area next to the plant will be cleaned up. An authorized disposal facility in Pennsylvania will handle the contaminated soil.

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