Illegal asbestos dumping at Alice Spring's tip

Alice Springs, NT, Australia - It has been discovered that someone has been illegally dumping a dangerous amount of asbestos at Alice Springs' tip.

Darryl Subloo, owner of tip managers Subloo, reported that he has found unburied asbestos materials at the tip face on three occasions since December 2007. The estimated total weight from the three dumpings is about 1000 kilograms.

The town council is now discussing the idea of installing a CCTV system, expected to cost $35,000, at the site to find the guilty parties and also scare off future would-be violators. The Alice Springs Town Council is working with the Environmental Protectional Agency to investigate how someone had managed to do it.

Mr. Subloo said there was concern over the matter because the type of people who would commit such a crime typically do not have the knowledge of how to properly handle asbestos and therefore, they are putting themselves and others at risk for deadly exposure. However, after assessing the situation, he said the asbestos posed no health risks to his employees. He added that they had been able to recognize the substance quickly and used machines to remove the asbestos from the tip face.

Mark Crossin, dirctor of operations for NT Worksafe, disagrees with Mr. Subloo's assessment. He said even being in the same area as uncontained asbestos of that amount is dangerous.

Mr. Subloo said he will submit a plan to build a shed where workers will stop and search vehicles to the tip for hazardous materials.

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