Opposition environment spokesman James Newbury is demanding an urgent statewide audit of asbestos on public land.Credit:Scott McNaughton
The authority says asbestos found in at least two of the six confirmed locations – P J Lynch Reserve and Donald McLean Reserve in Hobsons Bay – were a likely a result of illegal dumping rather than being laid with the mulch.
But someindependent experts and industry insiders have questioned this theory and said what goes into recycled mulch is under-regulated.
Kellander also cast doubt over the illegal dumping theory.
“As a councillor I’ve reported numerous cases of illegally dumped waste and from experience this looks like big piles of waste,large garbage bags and sheets,” she said.
The EPA has inspected dozens of mulch producers in Victoria in recent weeks.Credit:Joe Armao
“I can’t imagine an illegal dumper mulching up asbestos and scattering it through a garden bed. This suggested form of illegal dumping would surely occur somewhere within the supply chain.”
No suppliers of any mulch where asbestos materials have been found have been named by authorities.
In 2020,the state government announced a new waste crime investigation squad within the EPA to tackle industry waste disposal operators who accumulate harmful materials – including asbestos – without handling them properly.
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A year later,the state government slashed 100 jobs at the authority including disbanding its waste crime unit and replacing it with a new crime branch.
In response to questions about its waste crime monitoring,the EPA Victoria chief investigator Greg Elms said the authority had boosted its collaboration with local councils in responding to “smaller scale and lower risk pollution and waste reports”.
“EPA currently has 83 roles focused on waste crime,including high-risk and hazardous sites and waste intelligence,” he said.
Asbestos-contaminated soil was dug up at another Merri-bek park last week –Hosken Reserve in Coburg – but that matter is unrelated to the numerous reports of asbestos fragments being found in recycled mulch.
The Education Department also confirmed late on Wednesday that dumped asbestos-contaminated soil – not mulch – was removed last week from Mornington Secondary College. Asbestos fragments were found atUpwey Primary School during the redevelopment of an oval,the department also confirmed Wednesday,and the site has now been remediated.
Contact the journalist securely onrachaeldexter@protonmail.com
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