Ten parks in Hobsons Bay examined for asbestos mulch – MASHAHER

“EPA requires Hobsons Bay City Council to investigate the nature and extent of any harm or risk of harm to human health arising from asbestos in reserves or land areas managed by the council,” the spokesman said. The agency will also “review council’s procedures regarding the sourcing of mulch, safety and quality checks, replacement and maintenance”.

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The EPA said it had already inspected 59 mulch producers in Victoria over the past five weeks without finding asbestos, in light of the recent NSW scandal, adding “risk controls were generally of a high standard” though six sites were “required to make improvements”.

In Sydney, the discovery of asbestos-contaminated mulch at 75 sites, including seven schools, triggered the NSW EPA’s biggest probe ever and likely tougher laws.

During an update into the Victorian investigation, Pendrigh said contaminated materials had been found in six council-run parks, including five in Hobsons Bay, and one in Pascoe Vale South inside the Merri-bek City Council catchment in the inner north of Melbourne.

He stressed the level of contamination in the materials found at the Hobsons Bay parks was “very, very low”. “We’ve only found a handful of asbestos pieces in combing through quite a number of parks,” Pendrigh said.

“We can just provide assurance to the public the risk of harm to them or the environment from this contamination is very, very low.

“But as a precaution, we’ve asked the council to fence off the areas where the contamination has been found until it can be further examined and remediated.”

He said the regulator was examining three potential ways the mulch may have been contaminated. The first scenario was that the mulch was contaminated when it arrived at the site, either through contamination via the mulch producer, or the supply pathway.

The second theory is that there was building rubble or other contaminants already on the site, before the mulch was laid on top of it. The third theory is that the source is illegal dumping or from natural flooding, which has introduced contaminants into the mulch.

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Earlier on Monday, Hobsons Bay mayor Matt Tyler defended delays in determining the origins of asbestos-contaminated mulch discovered at several reserves, overseen by the council, in Melbourne’s west, in a scandal that has triggered the regulator to demand the council hand over its records.

Tyler revealed on Monday morning that 10 parks across the municipality, where mulch had been laid in the past 18 months, were now being examined for traces of asbestos.

Pressed on ABC radio about whether all the contaminated mulch had come from the same supplier, Tyler said the council was still determining its origins, despite testing beginning last week.

“We’ve been working literally around the clock on this, and our priority has been identifying which parks are affected, and closing those parks because community safety is our number one priority here,” Tyler said.

“We’re working through who the supplier is … the results came in on Friday afternoon. We’ll be providing all information on the supplier and the associated contractor to the EPA.”

The council has until April 22 to hand over a list of suppliers used to source mulch and all its contractors and subcontractors since July 2021, as well as “all reports dating back to the same period from council, its staff, contractors and the general public in regard to asbestos containing materials found in mulch at or around Hobsons Bay City Council infrastructure”.

Experts say a crackdown is needed to regulate contaminants in mulch and soil processed at recycling plants and to enforce the safe disposal of asbestos, following widespread discoveries in parks across NSW earlier this year.

The EPA also revealed on Sunday it was testing for potential asbestos at the PA Burns Reserve dog park in Altona North after a report from the community.

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“New mulch has been spread around the toilet blocks and is contaminated with building waste,” the EPA said. “Hobsons Bay City Council has not provided information to EPA about the source of the mulch at this time [but] EPA officers took six samples of potential asbestos for prioritised testing.”

Asbestos has also been found in nearby parks Crofts Reserve, PJ Lynch Reserve and GJ Hosken Reserve, which have since been fenced off. Over Easter, it was discovered at Donald McLean Reserve in Spotswood.

On Saturday, the environmental regulator inspected six parks across Hobsons Bay and Merri-bek council areas.

Inspections at Shore Reserve in Pascoe Vale South also led to three pieces of potential asbestos being removed for testing, with the pieces “considerably larger than mulch”. Contamination has also been found in soil at Hosken Reserve in Coburg North.

Tyler moved to reassure the public and said the council’s message was to take the health advice of the EPA, adding the advice the council had received so far was that the material found at Donald McLean reserve was far less likely to be airborne, and therefore “at the lower-risk end”.

“We’re still understanding exactly what’s caused it … there’s going to be learning and improvements that need to occur, and so obviously we’re looking at that in terms of our own process and procedures,” Tyler said.

“There’s obviously going to be things looked at further up the supply chain as well.”

When asked on Sunday if Victoria needed to follow NSW in creating a taskforce to investigate asbestos, Premier Jacinta Allan said the EPA already had strong powers.

“We need to let them do their job,” she said.

With Sherryn Groch

Mulch suspected to contain asbestos or illegal dumping of materials can be reported to Victoria’s EPA contact centre on 1300 372 842 or [email protected] 

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