TENS of thousands of tonnes of building and demolition waste, including asbestos, is being dumped in the Hunter on an industrial scale to beat legal trade waste costs.
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In the past two years, investigations have uncovered demolition routes from Sydney to the Hunter, and within the Hunter an organised illegal network that includes waste ‘‘brokers’’ who link illegal dumpers with dumping sites for a fee, and construction firms and companies prepared to risk criminal prosecutions, and clean-up costs, to avoid waste fees.
Environment Protection Authority action to cut illegal dumping includes an ‘‘ongoing criminal investigation’’ against Port Stephens mayor Bruce MacKenzie’s family company Macka’s Sand and Soil at Salt Ash, where asbestos was found in piles of building waste up to eight metres high, 40 metres wide and 100 metres long. Illegal dumping is increasing because of the high cost of legal building waste disposal, particularly asbestos, and restricted legal disposal sites, a report released by the Australian Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency said.
‘‘Fees for the disposal of asbestos are set by landfill operators and when the costs are high it leads to illegal dumping, asbestos being hidden in general waste, or diversion to distant sites, increasing the risks,’’ agency chief Peter Tighe said.
The NSW Government has responded with beefed-up penalties for dumpers, including jail for repeat offenders, and the risk of having their vehicles destroyed by court order. The EPA has established a Regional Illegal Dumping squad in the Hunter - one of five in the state - after EPA action in the past two years uncovered a disturbing level of illegal dumping.
It includes Hunter builder Thomas Paul Constructions, which has until February to remove thousands of tonnes of building waste from a Greta Main property. Since July 2013, the EPA has photographed trucks, some with the company’s logo, tipping waste including asbestos into 18 pre-dug holes.
Thomas Paul director Thomas Hughes declined to comment about a penalty notice issued in 2014, and an EPA clean-up notice issued in September, outlining dumping and inspections for more than two years.
‘‘We’re dealing with it,’’ Mr Hughes said.
NSW EPA director of waste and resource recovery Steve Beaman said the dumping of building waste, including asbestos, was a human health risk but cost the community to clean it up.
‘‘We pay for that poor social behaviour,’’ Mr Beaman said.
Buried waste also becomes someone else’s problem when dumpers on-sell properties, he said.
Environment Minister Mark Speakman launched a $58 million illegal dumping strategy in September.
‘‘Illegal dumping is not just a crime, it’s a public disgrace,’’ he said.
