The discovery of more asbestos near a children’s playground has prompted local authorities to urgently call for the removal of all garden mulch on the site in Sydney.
The potentially hazardous material was found in five samples after a child brought home a piece of the contaminated mulch from Rozelle Parklands and their caregiver alerted authorities.
Local father and Inner West Council Mayor Darcy Byrne called for all mulch to be replaced with organic, proven safe material.
“There are now at least five locations within the Rozelle Parklands where asbestos has been found,” he said in a statement on Friday.
Signs and barricades have been placed around Rozelle Parklands after asbestos was found in the mulch
The potentially hazardous material was found in five samples after a child brought home a piece of the contaminated mulch from Rozelle Parklands and their caregiver alerted authorities
“It is clear that the entire batch of mulch used in the parks poses a risk to the safety of local residents.”
Mr Byrne took aim at John Holland, the contractor behind the park development, saying the company had ‘manifestly failed’ to provide a safe facility despite receiving huge public funding.
“There is no room for mistakes or excuses; all mulch must be removed from the park immediately,” he said.
John Holland has been contacted for comment.
Authorities are now devising a plan to remove the mulch in the 10-hectare park, amid fears of wider contamination.
Premier Chris Minns said his focus was on making the site safe and ensuring the community understood there was a potentially toxic substance at the site.
The parkland, built above an underground interchange downtown for a controversial highway project, has been closed since Wednesday
An employee seen at the location that is expected to be closed for at least several days
“The contractor is obviously responsible for this and once we have addressed the immediate threat we will get to the nitty-gritty of who is paying for it,” he said.
Mr Minns added that he was not aware of any other locations contaminated with the same product.
The parkland, built above an underground interchange downtown for a controversial highway project, has been closed since Wednesday.
Transport for NSW confirmed on Thursday that three of 34 additional samples taken across the site returned positive results for trace amounts of bound asbestos.
The material is considered low risk compared to friable asbestos.
The transportation agency and John Holland were working on plans to safely remove and replace the affected recycled mulch.
The NSW Environment Protection Authority said it was working to determine the source of the asbestos and ensure it was not used elsewhere.
“The supplier’s very early advice to the EPA is that use of this batch of mulch is not widespread,” a spokesperson said.
Although the contaminated mulch was believed to pose a low risk to human health, it was commercially available and used in other undisclosed locations.
The location is expected to be closed for at least a few days.