Asbestos dump costly

FINED: The site where asbestos-contaminated building waste was illegally dumped.PHOTO/SUPPLIED

A Tauranga demolition and digger hire company has been fined almost $70,000 for illegally disposing of asbestos-contaminated waste and clearing native vegetation.

In the Tauranga District Court, 'C' Side Services was convicted and fined $67,687 in a prosecution jointly brought by the Tauranga City Council and Bay of Plenty Regional Council.

The offending happened at the company's Otumoetai site, which borders a city council reserve.

'C' Side Services, owned by Stephen Craig Walling, undertook a number of illegal activities between August 2010 and April last year, including disposing of demolition waste containing asbestos, illegal filling and clearing native vegetation in the "special ecological area".

About half the company's property was classified as such, but the affected site was now listed as contaminated.

The company must re-plant the area and undertake work to decontaminate the land.

A statement from the regional council said it and the city council received complaints in April last year about demolition material containing asbestos being taken from a church demolition site on Fraser St to 'C' Side Service's Grange Rd base.

Samples taken tested positive for white, brown and blue asbestos and Mr Walling was issued with an abatement notice to stop work.

He said he was laying clean-fill, dirt and concrete to form a driveway to a house and create a grassed garden area with exotic palms.

He took 15 truckloads of demolition waste to his company's site and allowed two other contractors to dump concrete and dirt there.

In total, 372sq m of "special ecological area" and its surrounds were cleared of vegetation.

"An environmental report said the cleared area contained some indigenous vegetation and was an integral part of a larger area of indigenous vegetation and habitat," the council statement said.

A report from Tonkin and Taylor said material containing asbestos at the site posed an "immediate and long-term risk" to human health if no management controls were in place.