A stockpile of several tonnes of asbestos contaminated material may be sitting at a Unanderra business site for weeks, after the owner was given until mid-January to remove it.
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TGD Investments was ordered by the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) to remove the contaminated material from its premises at 32-34 Doyle Ave, Unanderra, in late November.
The EPA believed more than 10 tonnes of “asbestos waste” had been deposited there, according to the clean-up notice issued to the company’s director Christopher “Tony” Derham.
The waste had been reported by Wollongong City Council on October 13, EPA documents show.
A little over two weeks later EPA officers inspected the premises, the base for contractors CF Group, and found bonded asbestos in “a large stockpile of construction and demolition waste including soil, bricks, concrete, tiles, metal, timber”.
The EPA ordered Mr Derham to remove all the contaminated waste by December 22. He requested an extension and the EPA changed the deadline to January 12.
When the Mercury contacted Mr Derham’s CF Group operation in Banksmeadow, his office said Mr Derham was overseas on leave for three weeks.
Mr Derham replied by email, saying the waste material was to be used to fill a large pit at the site, previously used for hot dip galvanising. He said he was unaware of the contamination.
“We had the fill material tested for friable asbestos and none [was] detected,” he said. “Some small pieces of bonded asbestos [were] discovered and we carried out a clean up and have approximately 5kg.
“All asbestos fragments and some soil is scheduled to be disposed of at a waste facility in Eastern Creek Sydney approved by the NSW EPA in mid-January.
“There was no knowledge of these pieces of asbestos before it was moved and whether they had been placed on our stockpile from persons forcing entry into our premises cannot be proven at this time.”
The EPA regards the entire stockpile as asbestos contaminated waste.
“The quantities in the clean-up notice stand,” a spokeswoman said. “The notice requires the removal of all the asbestos waste, and does not allow removal of individual pieces of bonded asbestos.”
Mr Derham is the director of both TGD Investments, which owns the premises, and CF Group.
Mr Derham made a splash when he moved CF Group to Unanderra, with a real estate agent saying he was part of a trend of several Sydney business owners looking to shift to the Illawarra.
