Bacterial strains have been isolated from contaminated concrete debris which exhibit the metabolic capability to degrade 2,4-chlorinated and 4-chloro-2-methyl-substituted phenols and phenoxyalkanoic acids including phenoxyacetate and phenoxypropionate derivatives. These strains were taxonomically identified. Two of them were found to belong to the β-subgroup of the proteobacteria and showed strong similarity to Rhodoferax fermentans. Preliminary investigations by PCR amplification using respective primers revealed that the strains harbour tfdA-like gene sequences.