A hazardous waste site in downtown Phoenix has been cleaned-up by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.

 It’s the first time the state has completed its own superfund project.

The state DEQ removed more than 6,000 tons of shredded metal and auto parts from the 10-acre site at Buckeye Road and Fifth Street near the Chase Field ballpark.

That’s where an auto salvage yard was once located but it went bankrupt in the 1980s.   

The site included cadmium, lead, PCB’s and other dangerous materials. 

DEQ’s Laura Malone said the land will be put up for sale but there are some limitations on how it can be used:  “The materials that have been left on site do not pose a risk to human health and the environment and a cap has been placed on the site and what they call a Declaration of Environmental Use Restriction which will limit what this property could be used for."

Malone said the site is zoned as industrial and it cannot be used for new homes or apartments. 

The clean-up project was intended to protect groundwater from contamination and it cost the state $12 million and took 15 years to complete.