Contaminated fill that was sold to more than 120 landowners from a waste centre has been confirmed by the EPA, and the residents have been notified.
The material, crushed concrete aggregate, sold to them by the Fleurieu Regional Waste Authority, contained asbestos and was used in both public and private works.
According to the FRWA, they had “recently undertaken testing of its recycled road base material at the Goolwa Waste and Recycling Depot and has found a very small quantity of bonded asbestos within the stockpile”.
The notification to landowners is required under the Environment Protection Act 1993, and each property will be assessed and reports logged into a public register.
The acting director of operations at the EPA explained that the risk to health and environment is low: “The nature of the material is such that it is unlikely to move from those locations by itself — it’s not soluble or anything like that.”
The license holder for the site has been issued two environment protection orders, which stipulate the council stop selling the affected fill, identify where it was used and engage asbestos consultants to undertake thorough assessments of the affected locations in order to provide remediation plans.
Along with those reports being added to the public register, future landowners will also be informed.