The city of Newark broke ground Tuesday on a project to clean and restore the fields around Ironbound Stadium.The original Ironbound and adjoining athletic fields have been unused since 1986, due to PCB contamination from Tidewater Baling, an industrial scrap-metal recycling facility that processed industrial scrap. The city will place a synthetic play field on the site once the area is cleaned and capped.



Chemical manufacturer Celanese Corp., which owns part of the site, is partnering with the city, the state Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the site’s cleanup, with funding by the city and Celanese.

