The Landfill and Resource Recovery, Inc. (L&RR) site is a 28-acre inactive landfill in North Smithfield, Rhode Island. Formerly a sand and gravel pit, the site was used for small-scale refuse disposal between 1927 and 1974. The property was sold in 1974 and the new owner expanded it into a large-scale disposal facility that accepted commercial, industrial, and municipal wastes. Over the next five years, it was estimated that over one million gallons of hazardous waste, including a wide variety bulk and drummed solids, liquids and sludges, was disposed of in the center of the landfill. In 1979, the State of Rhode Island ordered the landfill to stop accepting hazardous waste. A polyvinyl chloride cover was placed over the area containing the hazardous waste to prevent rainwater from percolating through it.

During the early 1980s, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM) began investigating the landfill to determine the extent of the contamination. EPA added the site to the Superfund Program’s National Priorities List (NPL) in 1983. The landfill continued to accept commercial and municipal wastes until it closed in 1985. After closing, the owner placed another synthetic cover over about 75% the landfill and installed vents to prevent the buildup of gases. Soil was placed on the cover and the area was partially planted with vegetation. Under EPA oversight, the potentially responsible parties (PRPs) installed a cap over the remainder of the landfill and a gas flare to burn off methane and other gases in 1995. Following the cleanup, operation and maintenance (O&M) activities, and long-term monitoring are ongoing.

In 1994, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) determined that erosion and remedial activities at the former landfill resulted in the destruction of approximately one acre of emergent and scrub-shrub wetland habitat that adversely affected migratory birds and other wetland-dependent species. In a 1997 settlement with the PRPs, the Natural Resource Trustees received $200,000 to implement wetland habitat restoration. The funds were used to restore the former Lonsdale Drive-In in Lincoln, RI by creating seven acres of wetlands and 13 acres of upland habitat.