‘Very low risk’ asbestos in western Melbourne, dumping likely the cause

Australia’s two biggest cities are dealing with widespread asbestos contamination, which has shuttered parks and reserves.

Illegal dumping has been pinned as the likely source of confirmed or suspected “very low risk” asbestos contamination at seven Melbourne parks, as a similar but apparently far-wider spread issue in Sydney is still being investigated for criminal wrongdoing.

On Sunday, Environmental Protection Authority Victoria staff checked parks and reserves across Altona, Altona North, Pascoe Vale South, North Coburg and Spotswood.

“EPA investigations are showing much of the material found at these sites may be a result of illegal dumping,” it says in an update from the authority posted on Sunday.

Hobsons Bay City Council, which stretches form the western side of the Yarra River mouth along the coastal western suburbs, was issued with two remedial notices on Sunday by the environmental authority.

The Donald McLean Reserve playground in Spotswood was the first site which sparked wider concerns about asbestos across Melbourne. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nicki Connolly

The notices order the council to proactively inspect all parks and gardens which have been mulched in the past 18 months, commission a hygienist and provide further information to the authority.

EPA Victoria regulatory services director, Duncan Pendrigh, said on Monday mulch producers were unlikely the source.

The EPA received 20,000 contaminate reports each year, and if anyone saw someone illegally dumping they were urged to record the number plate and file a report.

The asbestos at the Melbourne parks was in areas which were not walked over, so the threat of it becoming fibral was very low, Mr Pendrigh said.

Victoria’s chief environmental scientist, Mark Patrick Taylor, said there was a very minimal health risk with the asbestos, as it would need to be cut and ground up and inhaled to be cancerous.

About one-third of Australian homes had asbestos, Professor Taylor said, and reiterated the asbestos at the parks was bonded and not a health threat.

The environmental authority has requested the council’s reports dating back to July 2021.

This outbreak and thorough examination was sparked when a parent found contaminated building materials in mulch at a playground in Spotswood.

A contaminated “recycled product around mature tree planting” was the cause of two more parks being fenced off in the Hobsons Bay council area.

Updates for various areas searched this weekend are:

• Kororoit Creek Trail, Altona North: No suspected asbestos
• PA Burns Reserve dog park, Altona: Potential asbestos being tested, mulch spread on top of building waste
• GJ Hosken Reserve, off-lead dog park, Altona North: Suspected asbestos being tested
• Crofts Reserve, Altona North: Suspected asbestos being tested
• Shore Reserve, Pascoe Vale South: Suspected asbestos being tested
• Hosken Reserve, North Coburg: Asbestos found in historic buried material at active construction site
• PJ Lynch Reserve, Altona North: Confirmed bonded asbestos, likely from illegal dumping
• Donald McLean Reserve, Spotswood: Bonded asbestos found

Contractors have put up fences around an area close to playgrounds at an Altona park. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Diego Fedele

“So far, the material confirmed as asbestos containing material is bonded asbestos, not the more dangerous friable asbestos,” the environmental authority says.

“It is not unusual for people to find pieces of bonded asbestos in their homes or in the community … As a precaution, do not pick it up or handle it.”

Bonded asbestos has been found at 18 parks and reserves in Sydney, with two confirmed sites with the more dangerous friable asbestos.

The Sydney contaminants were discovered when the NSW EPA discovered the mulch suppliers working with councils had received contaminated recycled mulch.

“The EPA’s initial phase of supply chains tracing is complete, while its criminal investigation continues,” the NSW authority said last week.