Concrete loads asbestos warning
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by Karen Miles • Hauliers should be extra vigilant about the legitimacy of concrete loads they are asked to dump following government plans to ban white asbestos.
The Health & Safety Commission announced proposals last week to outlaw chrysotile—white asbestos— and quickly warned hauliers to be wary of offers to shift increased volumes of concrete containing the substance. Rogue organisations, aware they have loose or moulded cement products containing white asbestos, will try to illegally dump their lethal stocks in landfill sites, says the IISC.
Concrete containing asbestos is classified as special waste and must be dumped at sites capable of dealing with it. Individuals found illegally dumping special waste can face two years' imprisonment and unlimited fines.
"We know there will be some unscrupulous people who will want to get rid of their stocks and hauliers may be involved unwittingly in dumping the stuff," says an HSC spokeswoman. "Hauliers need to be asking the right questions and, if in doubt, should get written confirmation of what they're getting. If they have any doubts they should tip off the Environment Agency."
A consultation document on banning white asbestos will be issued in three weeks. It will propose ending the importation, supply and use of 80% of white asbestos as soon as possible. Last year around 5,000 tonnes were imported. However, brake linings, bearings and bearing housings—which are all made of white asbestos—will be among items exempted from the ban until at least 2004 so manufacturers can find alternative materials.
This latest move by the HSC completes the long process of outlawing asbestos, which causes incurable lung and abdominal cancers and asbestosis or fibrosis—scarring of the lungs. Blue asbestos was prohibited in 1972, brown in 1980.