Asbestos fly-tipping costs thousands to clear up

Wednesday 25 January 2017

The Environment Department has had to spend £5,000 on a specialist clean-up after fly tippers left nine bin bags full of hazardous asbestos in a field near Maufant.

Asbestos is a known carcinogen, and is believed to have been dumped in insulation board format overnight in the field at some point between 6 December and 7 December 2016.

“It’s not just a question of picking up nine bin bags and putting them into a truck and taking it away,” Waste and Water Management and Regulation Officer Richard Runacres told Express.

“The reason it’s cost that much is that the material that was fly-tipped was ‘licensed asbestos’ so anybody that works with it has to be authorised by the Health and Safety Inspectorate.”

Before licensed contractors can deal with the substance, however, a ‘method statement’ on how they’re going to do it must be approved and a protective tent-style enclosure must be constructed in the area to contain the hazard – a process both lengthy and costly in nature.

“In this particular instance, they’ve had to erect an enclosure for months, which effectively means that none of the material can escape into the atmosphere, and then bag it all up whilst it’s inside the enclosure. They’ve had to bring in the decontamination unit onto site where the staff have to be trained up, wear PPE with masks, so it’s the sort of length of the process that’s caused the cost,” Mr Runacres added.

Fortunately, there has been “no lasting impact” on the land on which the asbestos-filled sacks were dumped. “[The contractors] have skimmed the couple of inches of soil on the top to prevent any contamination, and that’s been to be rechecked again and analysed to make sure that it’s clean and free from asbestos as part of that operation.”

To avoid recurrence of such incidents, the Department of the Environment is now looking to find those responsible for the incident, whilst also appealing to those who may have concerns about what they have seen to get in contact.

Director of Environmental Protection Dr Tim du Feu said “We are really keen to hear from anyone who saw perhaps a neighbour or colleague at work loading nine black bin liners into a vehicle. They may have been wearing dust masks or gloves. Clearly individuals maybe a bit reluctant to ‘dob-in’ a neighbour or colleague, but this is a serious incident and those involved need to be caught to protect the public and the environment. Any witnesses can be assured that their information will be treated in the strictest confidence.”

If you have any information that could help, contact the Environment Department on 709535.