Bonded asbestos discovered near North Bondi children’s playground
Pieces of bonded asbestos have been found near a popular playground in Sydney’s eastern suburbs months after contaminated mulch was discovered at 76 locations across the city.
NSW
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Pieces of bonded asbestos have been found at a popular playground in Sydney’s eastern suburbs months after contaminated mulch was discovered at 55 locations across the city, promptly shutting down parks, a primary school, and a major festival.
The alarm was raised when members of the public located asbestos near the children’s playground at Biddigal Reserve in North Bondi on Monday.
Waverley Council confirmed the discovery in a statement on Wednesday.
“This week, Waverley Council conducted tests on four small, intact fragments of material (each the size of a matchbox) discovered at Biddigal Reserve, North Bondi,” a Waverley spokesman said.
“The results confirmed the material to be bonded asbestos.”
No further pieces had been found in a “thorough” investigation by council staff at the site this week, the statement said.
It comes after the discovery of contaminated mulch across the harbour city earlier this year, with dozens of public parks and several schools rapidly shut down after asbestos fragments were detected.
The new pieces of asbestos are not connected to the widespread detections across Sydney, and no sites in the Waverley Local Government Area were listed as contaminated according to the NSW Environment Protection Authority’s (EPA) record of sites affected by the contamination.
“Our priority is the safety of our community and council will continue to monitor the reserve as part of its routine operations, which includes an upcoming spring returfing program and regular maintenance,” the Waverley spokesman said.
“We can confirm Biddigal Reserve remains totally safe and open to the public.”
The EPA said it was aware of the incident and will provide assistance to Waverley Council if required.
However, the authority confirmed a criminal investigation into the contaminated mulch crisis is still ongoing.
“The EPA’s investigation into asbestos in mulch is one of the biggest investigations undertaken in our regulatory history,” a spokesman said.
“We are pursuing a criminal investigation into the asbestos in mulch incidents and are currently taking active steps including interviewing witnesses and other persons of interest.”
The contaminant was first detected at the newly-opened Rozelle Parklands in early January.
Supplier Greenlife Resource Recovery launched an appeal in the NSW Land and Environment Court two months later against an order made by the EPA restricting it from producing or selling mulch.
The EPA confirmed about 88 per cent of positive sites linked to the contamination have now been cleaned up.
Impacted sites are still fenced off as the EPA works with public landowners to “establish a reasonable time frame to safely remove any remaining mulch”.
Asbestos dumpers in NSW now face maximum fines of $1 million per offence while companies face $4 million per offence under new laws passed in March.
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