Exclusive: Facilities owned by Bingo Industries and Aussie Skips Recycling among more than 20 named in NSW parliament for breaching regulations
Recycling fill sold in Sydney stores tests positive for asbestos
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Some of the best-known waste companies in New South Wales are among those that broke safety rules that led to potentially contaminated soil fill being supplied to backyard landscapers, schools, childcare centres and parks across the state.
As part of an investigation into soil contamination, Guardian Australia can reveal that Bingo Industries, Aussie Skips Recycling, Benedict Recycling and KLF Holdings breached state regulations for testing a type of cheap soil made from recycled construction and demolition waste.
Companies found in the 2019 investigation to have asked private laboratories to keep retesting samples when they exceeded contaminant thresholds were: Bingo Industries in Auburn, four Benedict Recycling facilities in Sydney, Breen Resources in Kurnell, South Coast Equipment Recycling at Warrawong, Hi-Quality Waste Management at St Marys and Brandown Pty Ltd at Cecil Park. The 2013 investigation also found two Benedict Recycling facilities were retesting samples.
Twenty-one facilities were found in the 2019 investigation not to have been meeting EPA sampling rules such as the frequency with which samples should be collected and tested and what they were tested for: eight sites owned by Bingo Industries, four owned by Benedict Industries and one each by Aussie Skips Recycling, KLF Holdings, Breen Resources, Brandown, Hi-Quality Waste Management, Budget Waste Recycling, Rock & Dirt Recycling, South Coast Equipment Recycling and Builders Recycling Operations. Aussie Skips Recycling and Hi-Quality Waste Management were also among 11 facilities found in 2013 to be breaching testing rules.
Following the 2019 investigation, the EPA issued prevention notices to six facilities after it detected asbestos in their recovered fines. In at least two instances the product had already been removed for use in the community.
In one case identified in the 2019 EPA investigation, 16 tonnes of asbestos-contaminated soil produced by KLF Holdings was supplied to an apartment complex in Bankstown, and the regulator was forced to order a clean-up.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
05/27/2024 - 10:00
05/27/2024 - 10:00
The Coalition has no climate policy. But Labor’s positions are undermined by its confused stance on gas and the delay of new environmental laws
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Federal parliament is back for the next fortnight and I have a wishlist. Not for things that will happen – let’s not get ahead of ourselves – but for questions that could be addressed if the country is to treat the climate and extinction crises as seriously as our leaders claim they do.
There is no shortage of discussion about nuclear energy due to the Coalition’s much-hyped but yet-to-appear plan to overturn a national ban and bring it to Australia. The issue got plenty of attention after a CSIRO-led assessment that it would be far, far more expensive than wind and solar backed by energy storage and new transmission lines.
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05/27/2024 - 10:00
Scalloped hammerhead and greeneye spurdog among at-risk shark discovered in genetic testing of flake fillets
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One in 10 fillets of shark meat bought by Australians at fish and chip shops and markets – often labelled as flake – is from a threatened species, according to a study that has uncovered widespread mislabelling of shark sold to the public.
Nine of 91 fillets were found to be either scalloped hammerhead, greeneye spurdog or school shark – all considered threatened in Australia – after scientists at Macquarie University used DNA analysis to check what they were sold.
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05/27/2024 - 09:04
Exclusive: Bronze age remains and Roman roads among 12,802 sites discovered using latest technology
Bronze age burial mounds, Roman roads and deserted medieval villages are among almost 13,000 previously-unknown ancient sites and monuments that have been discovered by members of the public in recent months, it will be announced this week.
Truck drivers and doctors are among more than 1,000 people who participated in Deep Time, a “citizen science project” which has harnessed the power of hobbyists to scour 512 sq km (200 sq miles) of Earth Observation data, including high-resolution satellite and lidar – laser technology – imagery.
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05/27/2024 - 05:00
Recommendations include heat forecasts and outdoor-worker safeguards to prevent thousands of deaths and injuries
Millions of Americans face the threat of dangerous heatwaves in the coming weeks with another summer of record-breaking temperatures forecast to hit the US.
Most of New Mexico and Utah – alongside parts of Arizona, Texas and Colorado – have the highest chance (60% to 70%) of seeing hotter-than-average summer temperatures, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa). In addition, the entire north-east – from Maine down to Pennsylvania and New Jersey – as well as a large stretch from Louisiana to Arizona, Washington and Idaho, have a 40% to 50% chance of experiencing above-average temperatures from June through August.
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05/27/2024 - 01:00
Studies find red, blue and green plastic decomposes into microplastic particles faster than plainer colours
Retailers are being urged to stop making everyday products such as drinks bottles, outdoor furniture and toys out of brightly coloured plastic after researchers found it degrades into microplastics faster than plainer colours.
Red, blue and green plastic became “very brittle and fragmented”, while black, white and silver samples were “largely unaffected” over a three-year period, according to the findings of the University of Leicester-led project.
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05/27/2024 - 00:00
Female pair are third litter born at Blair Drummond under endangered species breeding programme
A Scottish safari park has announced the birth of two female lemur pups native to Madagascar.
Nova and Evie, who are living at Blair Drummond safari and adventure park, near Stirling, were born on 14 April, and the park has now publicly announced their birth.
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05/26/2024 - 10:00
Discovery of ‘echidnapus’ and two more species show the furry egg-layers predated marsupials
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Some time about 100m years ago in what is now an Australian opal field, a weird, furry, egg-laying, rabbit-sized mammal was gliding through a waterhole across a massive polar floodplain.
This mammal – Opalius splendens, but which scientists have thankfully blessed with the nickname “echidnapus” – was among the ancient descendants of one of the planet’s most unique orders of animals, the monotremes.
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05/26/2024 - 10:00
Exclusive: Independent testing of recycled soil fill finds two of four samples would not meet legislated thresholds and one contained asbestos
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Asbestos has been found in recycled soil fill for sale in New South Wales landscape and garden stores, more than a decade after investigators first raised concerns about contamination.
Guardian Australia bought four products at Sydney landscape supply shops and had samples analysed by accredited private laboratories.
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05/26/2024 - 04:25
Warnings of possible flooding, travel delays and power cuts as Met Office issues yellow warning
More than an inch of rain could fall in one hour as thunderstorms lash parts of England and Wales, forecasters have warned.
Slow-moving showers and thunderstorms are expected to develop on Sunday afternoon, with 20-30mm of rain predicted. There may also be hail and lightning strikes, with people warned to expect possible flooding, travel delays and power cuts.
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