Ballarat residents have been urged to check for asbestos on nature strips following a man’s discovery outside his home yesterday.
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After reading The Courier's story yesterday on asbestos dumping following NBN works, Webster Street’s Ray Borowiak decided to check a Telstra-owned pit on the nature strip outside his home.
The pit had already undergone works relating to the roll-out of the NBN and soil has been filled back around the edges of the pit’s concrete top.
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Mr Borowiak said he was shocked to discover what he suspects to be pieces of the fibrous material embedded in the loose dirt.
“You can see it’s the right size to be part of the pit, it’s made of fibres and it’s got that blue colour,” he said.
“It’s definitely asbestos.”
Mr Borowiak said while the weather was wet it didn’t pose an immediate danger, but warned people to check outside their homes in case more pits were back-filled with asbestos pieces in the soil.
“It’s just lazy,” he said.
“It’s in the backfill – if they’re doing this for all of them then you wonder how much is left in there.
“In the summer, if I hit that with a lawnmower it could go everywhere.”
Mr Borowiak said he believed there could be more scattered around Ballarat.
“I’d encourage people to check near their houses – look how easy I found these bits,” he said.
jordan.oliver@fairfaxmedia.com.au
