Manage asbestos waste

How to remove, transport and store asbestos waste, including treating soil containing asbestos waste.

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Asbestos waste can be dangerous. You must manage asbestos waste the right way.

The general environmental duty applies to activities involving asbestos waste.

We regulate the management of asbestos waste from business and industry. This includes:

  • transporting asbestos waste
  • storing asbestos waste
  • treating soil containing asbestos waste.

The safest way for businesses and industry to remove asbestos is to use a licensed asbestos removalist. WorkSafe Victoria lists licensed asbestos removalists in a service providers directory(opens in a new window).

You can remove certain types of household asbestos waste yourself. If there's a large amount of asbestos or you're uncomfortable doing this work, contact a licensed asbestos removalist.

If you're removing flood-related waste and you're not sure whether it contains asbestos (or any other harmful material):

  • do not disturb the material
  • do not let others disturb the material.

Always assume that floodwater is contaminated with asbestos waste. Wear personal protective equipment, such as a mask and gloves. Always wash your hands thoroughly after flood clean-up activities.

Remove and transport industrial asbestos waste

These duties apply to the transport of asbestos waste from business and industry:

Make sure you understand your legal duties when transporting or allowing the transport of asbestos waste.

Learn more from our guidance Asbestos transport and disposal.

Licensed asbestos removalists

Choose a licensed asbestos removalist that:

Landfills that accept asbestos

Some landfills are authorised to receive asbestos waste. Visit Dispose of asbestos waste.

Remove household asbestos

There are broadly two types of asbestos:

  • friable asbestos
  • non-friable asbestos, or bonded asbestos.

Friable asbestos should always be handled by a licensed asbestos removalist. Friable asbestos can crumble under hand pressure. It's more dangerous, because the fibres are not bound and can become airborne and breathed in. If asbestos looks flaky, contact a licensed asbestos removalist.

Non-friable asbestos cannot be crumbled or crushed with hand pressure. For example, non-friable asbestos can be found in fibre cement sheets or pipes, commonly called fibro. Fibro can be found in residential backyards. This may be because of past demolition or soil that was imported with fragments of asbestos in it.

Fibro can be damaged by things like lawn mowers or vehicles or by walking over the surface. If you find fibro in your backyard, you should remove it to prevent possible release of asbestos fibres.

You can safely remove non-friable asbestos pieces from a backyard yourself in small amounts. A small amount is less than 10 square metres of material. For more than 10 square metres – or more than one hour of work within a 7-day period – use a licensed asbestos removalist. This amount and time period for work is based on the WorkSafe Victoria compliance code(opens in a new window) for asbestos removal.

If you decide to remove household asbestos yourself, find more information about how to identify and remove asbestos at the Asbestos in Victoria(opens in a new window) website.

You can get soil and material tested for asbestos at an accredited testing facility. Visit the National Association of Testing Authorities(opens in a new window) website.

Asbestos waste must be taken to a landfill authorised to receive it. Visit Dispose of asbestos waste.

Store asbestos waste

Unless you are eligible for an A22 registration, you need an A01 - Reportable priority waste management development and operating licence to store asbestos waste.

A22 – Temporary storage (asbestos) – registration

An A22 registration applies to temporary storage of less than 10 m3 of double-wrapped, non-friable asbestos waste that was not generated at the site where you are storing the waste.

You can store the waste for no more than 60 days.

You must store the waste on land that is:

  • permitted under a planning scheme made under the Planning and Environment Act 1987 to be used as a transfer station which can accept asbestos, or
  • used by a public utility, or the contractor of a public utility, to store only asbestos generated by the public utility or a contractor of the public utility.

Public utilities include electricity, gas, water and telecommunications corporations.

The land must be at least 100 metres away from homes, health services and childcare and education centres.

For more information, visit A22 registration.

Receive and treat soil containing asbestos for fill material

To receive and treat soil containing asbestos for offsite use as fill material, you must have an A01 – Reportable priority waste management development licence and operating licence.

At a minimum, your application for the licence must include:

  • a risk assessment
  • what mitigation and monitoring measures you will use
  • acceptance criteria (including analytical testing, site history investigations and quarantine process) to eliminate the possibility of friable asbestos being present in the soil
  • how you will manage batches to reduce the likelihood of cross-contamination of friable asbestos
  • the batch treatment process you will use and its effectiveness in removing asbestos
  • the recall procedure in case an accidentally contaminated batch is dispatched
  • the soil testing regime you will use.

The soil testing regime needs to meet the Fill material determination(opens in a new window) and the National Environment Protection (Assessment of Site Contamination) Measure (ASC NEPM) requirements:

  • less than 0.01% weight-by-weight concentration of bonded asbestos
  • less than 0.001% weight-by-weight concentration of friable asbestos
  • no other contaminants present in the soil.

Treated waste soil that still contains asbestos above the ASC NEPM concentrations does not meet the requirements of the determination. It must be disposed of at a landfill authorised to receive it.

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