CAMDEN, N.J. (KYW Newsradio) — An illegally dumped dirt pile as tall as a telephone pole in Camden is finally being removed, one truckload at a time.
The first loads of dirt were hauled away from the private lot on Seventh and Chestnut streets Tuesday and taken to a landfill in Blackwood.
Camden Mayor Vic Carstarphen said it will take about 50 trucks a day through the end of the year to remove the 45-foot-high pile of fill and excavation waste, which stands well above adjacent homes.
“We made a promise to our Camden residents to clear this debris, and we kept that promise, together,” he said. Carstarphen made that promise around this time last year, when the city officially took ownership of the nuisance property.
“If you dump on our city, we will come after you,” Carstarphen added.
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn LaTourette said federal money is funding the removal of the contaminated dirt. Officials are working to hold the property owner, Weyhill Realty Holdings, responsible for years of illegal dumping.
“There’s some nasty stuff lurking in there that belongs in no community anywhere, ever,” said LaTourette. “We don’t tolerate environmental injustice. We search it. We seek it out. We run it down. And we stomp it out where we find it.”
Officials expect the site to be cleaned up by the end of February 2024. Teams will continue to evaluate the soil as it is removed to determine what toxins are in there.