Kim Ford, the mayor of Hawkesbury on Sydney's north-western edge, said the council this month had to close a local road in Blaxlands Ridge for four days after a few tonnes of construction waste, including asbestos, was left in the middle of the bitumen. Dumped asbestos at a waste management facility in Bathurst. Credit:Brendan Esposito "They just tipped a truck load in the middle of the road," Mr Ford said. In Hawkesbury there is no licensed tip that accepts asbestos waste and the council is increasingly dealing with asbestos-contaminated landfill in addition to road-side dumping. "Over the last 12 months there appears to have been a significant increase in contaminated illegal landfill being placed on resident's properties," regulatory services acting manager, Emmanuel Isbester​, said.

"It seems residents have responded to advertisements for 'free clean fill' which has resulted in large quantities of contaminated landfill being delivered, sometimes without the owners being in attendance." On the other side of Sydney, in Camden, the local council investigates about 600 illegal dumping incidents each year, amounting to 800 tonnes of rubbish, including construction and demolition waste, tyres, household rubbish, chemicals and asbestos. In the past 12 months alone, it had to clean up around 40 tonnes of asbestos material, it said. There is growing concern illegally dumping construction and demolition waste is a smart way of doing business. "The contractor might pre-plan to illegally dump their waste prior to taking on a job (thereby potentially undercutting their competitors)," the EPA found in its Illegal Dumping Research Report, released in July.

There are no state- or city-wide figures for illegal dumping, though the EPA has recently launched an online reporting tool to gather more data. Since October, 2014, it has received 31 claims for asbestos clean up across greater Sydney. Across the whole of NSW, there are fewer than 100 facilities that legally take asbestos waste. They charge around $300 per tonne and require asbestos sheets to be delivered in bundles wrapped in heavy-duty builders' plastic and sealed with duct tape. Contaminated soil needs to be wetted down and placed in tied bags. In the Sydney metropolitan area there are only 10 licensed tips. Not all city fringe councils have noted a rise in asbestos dumping, however. Both Campbelltown and Sutherland councils said the problem existed, but remained stable.

And the EPA says that, because the problem has thus far only been measured through anecdotal data, it is hard to track whether illegal dumping is on the rise overall. Certain locations can become popular dumping spots for a time until a targeted crackdown shifts dumpers elsewhere. Some councils have called for the waste levy, which currently stands at $133.10 per tonne in metropolitan areas, to be waived for asbestos to encourage legal disposal. But the EPA says the levy is just a small proportion of the cost of dealing with asbestos. "While illegal disposal does allow rogue contractors to avoid the [waste] levy they are also avoiding a range of other costs, including landfill gate fees, transport costs, and labour costs," an EPA spokeswoman said. However, SUEZ, the company that operates four of the 10 licensed asbestos waste facilities across greater Sydney, said it was trialling a scheme to exempt asbestos from the levy at its Lucas Heights depot.

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