How much more asbestos regulatory failure needs to be exposed before the NSW government gets the political will to act?
NSW Premier Chris Minns responded by saying that the NSW Environmental Protection Authority was throwing everything at tracing the source of the mulch. When the EPA found that mulch had been spread across Sydney into schools and parks, media managers and some reporters set about reassuring the public that the asbestos fragments were mostly ‘bonded’ ones which are not as dangerous as fibres. So far there have been no prosecutions.
The material, known as ‘recovered fines’ is produced from residue of construction and demolition waste to be recycled in construction and road projects, and in public spaces such as sporting fields. It’s also sold as cheap fill by landscape and garden companies. Recovered fines are big business, with about 700,000 tons produced a year. And while much of the contaminated material may be more safely buried under roads, some of it is in parks, schools, gardens, playgrounds and childcare centres. No one knows exactly where it has gone because despite shocking results, no one has been tracking it.near children is a particular worry as they are more likely to play in the dirt and also more likely to inhale fibres.