Bicentennial Park, Glebe: Contaminated mulch delivered to park six months ago, Lilyfield Road Bridge, Rozelle also under investigation

Sydney’s Bicentennial Park could have had friable asbestos-contaminated mulch on its grounds for the last six months, as yet another site in the city’s inner west is now under investigation.

Daily Telegraph. 13, February, 2024. HARMONY PARK, Surry Hills, today. Most harmful, friable asbestos (if disturbed it can become airborne) this park has been fenced off 12 hours after city of Sydney got the report. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

Regular users of Bicentennial Park in Glebe could have been exposed to dangerous, friable asbestos for a long a six months before it was uncovered in contaminated mulch.

A City of Sydney spokesman confirmed one positive sample of friable asbestos and several samples of bonded asbestos had been uncovered in mulch at Bicentennial Park, revealing “it may have been in place for up to six months”.

The spokesman said the foreshore area, on Sydney Harbour, had been fenced off as a result of the findings.

This could mark the 48th case if results come back positive.

It comes as Inner West Council revealed the Lilyfield Rd Bridge in Rozelle was under investigation after it was confirmed that the same contaminated batch of mulch was used at the site in recent upgrades of the grounds.

Inner West Council was informed by Regal Landscaping, the contractor that undertook the recent upgrade of the Lilyfield Road Bridge on the Bay Run, that they had been notified by the Environmental Protection Authority that a small amount of mulch used in the project could be contaminated with asbestos.

This now marks 47 sites contaminated with asbestos, however, with testing still underway for the Rozelle Road Bridge, that number could soon increase.

An Inner West Council statement said the NSWEPA informed council that the risk of exposure to the community is very low.

“We have been informed that the amount of potentially contaminated mulch was only 12 cubic metres and the majority of the affected area is not accessible to the public,” council said.

“None of the affected area is on the bridge itself or the Bay Run thoroughfare.”

“This was identified through the EPA’s ongoing tracing of asbestos contaminated mulch that the supplier of the mulch, Turtle Landscape Supplies, had sourced the material through a supply chain linking back to Greenlife Resource Recovery.”