The Site is located near the intersection of Morris Field Drive & Billy Graham Parkway in Mecklenburg County, Charlotte, North Carolina.  Winston Container Company is located adjacent to Taggart Creek close to the Charlotte-Douglass airport and west of the Charlotte central business district.  Presently, the building that was central to Winston Container Company’s operations has been demolished, with the remaining office brick building intact.  

The Winston family and partners acquired the Winston Container Company plant site prior to 1952.  The family and/or company have held ownership of the property since then.  The Site was used as a reclamation facility from 1952 until March 2006 when the company ceased production.  The drum reclamation activities at Winston Container Company were a potential source of soil and groundwater contamination.  
 

The Site formerly reconditioned used 55-gallon metal drums at its facility.  Both open and closed top drums were processed at this plant.  The existing facilities included two drum racks where the drums were staged on inclined racks and rolled down to a conveyor at the cutter building.  In the cutter building, the tops of the drums were removed and the drums were placed open side up on a conveyor that transported them to the drum furnace.  In the drum furnace, surface residues were burned and, upon exiting, the drums were conveyed to a shot-blast process where they were further cleaned.  Following this preparation, select drums were re-dimensioned and painted for reuse.  The shot-blast system, drum testing and spray finishing were located in the main plant building.

Winston Container Company was built before the construction of municipal water lines to the area.

1.1.2.1 Location

4901 Winston Container Road, Charlotte, North Carolina, 28021.

1.1.2.2 Description of Threat

Several 55 gallon drums containing an unknown material were found in and around Taggart Creek. The drums appeared to have been buried and erosion has partially uncovered the drums. According to the caller, the drums may have been buried in the early 1950's to late 1960's.

1.1.3 Preliminary Removal Assessment/Removal Site Inspection Results

Initial sampling results taken by EPA's Super Technical Assessment Response Team (START) during the emergency response phase were above the Technical Services Section (TSS) recommended Removal Action Level (RAL) of 750 parts per million (ppm).

• Assessed creek bordering Winston Container property and identified evidence of drums in and along the creek, many of which were present in the eroded bank near the southern end of the property.
• Collected 4 soil samples (including 1 field duplicate) and 4 waste samples (including 1 field duplicate) from the exposed creek bank near the southern end of the property.  Evidence indicative of paint waste was observed.
• Analytical results (received January 18) indicated the presence of elevated concentrations of contaminants, including lead in soil (up to 55,000 mg/kg) and VOCs present in waste samples, including toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes.

 January 18

• Potentially Responsible Party (PRP)'s excavated 2 test pits at the top of the creek bank on the Winston Container property to further investigate the potential for additional drums and/or waste.  Drum carcasses and paint-like waste were encountered.  Paint-like material was observed entering the test pit at a depth of approximately 7 to 8 feet below ground surface (bgs).
• A rolloff box was delivered to the site and paint-like material from the test pit was transferred to the box pending disposal arrangements.
• Upon receipt of analytical results, EPA held a conference call with PRP's contractors to discuss immediate response activities to eliminate the release of contaminants into the creek.

 January 19

• PRP's contractors cleared trees and vegetation from the creek bank in preparation for excavation and removal activities.  Potentially clean soil was relocated from the test pit to a lined staging area.
• Obviously contaminated materials (drums, stained soil, etc) were placed directly into a rolloff box while potentially clean material was staged separately pending sampling.

January 20 - 28

• Excavation activities continued throughout the week to scrap back the embankment area adjacent to Taggart Creek.  No further drums were recovered during soil removal.  Debris continued to be separated from potentially clean soils.  XRF sampling was conducted throughout excavation activities and were below RALs.

2.1.3 Enforcement Activities, Identity of Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs)

Enforcement has confirmed that the Winston Container Company is the PRP.

2.1.4 Progress Metrics