environment watchdog has vowed to crack down on the waste industry after new tests found asbestos at seven of 13 facilities producing or handling cheap landscaping products.that the Environment Protection Authority had failed to act after compliance campaigns in 2013 and 2019 found potentially contaminated products had been distributed across the state – including at childcare centres, schools, residential areas and parks – thanks to widespread breaches by the industry.
How much more asbestos regulatory failure needs to be exposed before the NSW government gets the political will to act? | Wendy BaconChappel said the industry had been given ample opportunity to improve “but it’s time to reassess the regulatory settings”. As a result of the latest tests, nine facilities were required to dispose of more than 600 tonnes of non-compliant recovered fines.
Separately, fines totalling $45,000 were issued to three Sydney facilities – Rock & Dirt Recycling, Aussie Skips Recycling in Strathfield South and Canterbury-Bankstown council’s Kelso, Storage and Transfer facility at Milperra – for alleged licence breaches on standards for managing construction waste, including failure to properly label stockpiles.More fines were likely to come, the EPA said, without identifying which facilities might be affected.
Waste facilities making recovered fines are required to test their product for hazardous contaminants, such as lead, and report results to the EPA if they exceed legislated thresholds. Retesting of recovered fines is not prohibited, but if any test shows a sample has exceeded a contaminant threshold, the product is considered non-compliant.The facilities are not required to specifically test for asbestos, but the recycling and reuse of asbestos in any form is prohibited.