LANXESS Hosts Township of Woolwich Remediation Committee for Site Tour

May 2, 2025 – ELMIRA, ONTARIO -- LANXESS, a global specialty chemicals company with operations in Elmira, hosted the Township of Woolwich’s Technical Remediation Advisory Committee (TRAC) for a tour at the company’s manufacturing facility this week.

TRAC members explored the LANXESS site’s groundwater remediation system,  which recently underwent a $4.3 million expansion. Visitors, which included technical experts, longtime volunteers to the TRAC, and regulatory community members, also toured areas adjacent to the Canagagigue Creek as part of the group’s focus on addressing legacy cleanup efforts from past site operators.

Recent public discussions between TRAC, technical experts at LANXESS and local remediation consultants have surrounded the groundwater treatment system and portions of the site’s East Side, the group planned the gathering to see these areas firsthand.

“We’ve been working with the community, members of TRAC, and the Township on this concern for a long time,” said Hadley Stamm, Environmental and Remediation manager for LANXESS. “With TRAC, we’ve spent countless hours reviewing various studies and data sets, along with plans, drawings and photos – but seeing the operation in person together was helpful to illustrate the size, scope, and capabilities of the facility.”

Since assuming ownership of the Elmira facility in 2017, LANXESS has been dedicated to environmental improvement efforts at the site. Over the past three decades, tens of millions of dollars have been spent on remediating this inherited environmental legacy, with great progress made towards a cleaner and healthier environment.

Members of TRAC, an advisory board that includes concerned community members as well as representatives from the Grand River Conservation Authority, Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP), and Region of Waterloo have not visited the site in several years.

“We take this situation very seriously and have invested a lot of time, effort, and money in remediating historic groundwater and creek impacts from a previous facility operator,” Ms. Stamm said. “We remain fully committed to our partners at TRAC and the community as we continue the great cleanup progress we’ve made towards a healthier environment.”

The Elmira facility, which employes a workforce of more than 125, recently earned the company’s highly prestigious CEO Safety Award – awarded by LANXESS AG CEO, Matthias Zachert – for a creative problem-solving approach that minimizes employee risks.