A Libertyville-based manufacturer of plastic bottle caps says it’s committed to cleaning a pond next to its production facility and any other waterways the company may have inadvertently contaminated.
Libertyville Mayor Terry Weppler mentioned the situation during Tuesday’s Village Board meeting and officials with Aptar, 901 Technology Way, met Wednesday with the village and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
“Their initial action is going to be to install covers over the pond’s outflow and their storm sewers to filter any future flow and prevent contamination down stream,” Weppler said . “That pond ultimately goes into the Des Plaines River through St. Mary of the Lake, the private golf course, Butler Lake and Bull Creek.”
Katie Reardon, a spokeswoman for Aptar, released a statement expressing regret for the situation and a willingness to fix it. She said the company was not aware of the situation until Wednesday.
“It appears that some plastic resin pellets, caps and closures from our production facility were — over time — inadvertently left on the pavement surrounding the area where such materials are loaded onto and unloaded from trucks at the facility,” Reardon said. “It is our preliminary belief that these materials unintentionally washed into the storm drainage system and subsequently into the retention pond.”
Weppler said the facility uses a vacuum system to transfer products between trucks, silos and warehouse workstations.
Surrounded by three different office buildings and parking lots, the pond is located on the opposite side of Technology Way, but the drain in Aptar’s parking lot runs under the road and between the offices.
The pond features a walking path and numerous picnic benches. Turtles and frogs can be seen swimming in the water, while birds with nearby nests dive into the water.
Small white plastic pellets and tattered bottle caps and shampoo caps can be seen on several of the shores and floating in the water.
The filters Weppler referenced were scheduled to be installed Thursday.
“We are part of the community and care deeply about our neighborhoods,” Reardon said. “Aptar has been operating in Libertyville for over 10 years . . . We remain committed to acting with integrity, taking actions to prevent this from happening again and doing what is right for the community.”
Weppler said Aptar contacted four different environmental firms regarding clean up of the pond and inspection of the connected nearby waterways.
“What’s ironic, is one of our nemeses is actually helping us in this case,” Weppler said. “We’ve had problems with beavers in the past, but a beaver actually built a dam in the outflow of this pond and may have stopped a lot of this from going down stream.”
