The cost of removing coloured sand products from South Australian public schools amid asbestos contamination concerns is expected to exceed $1.5 million, and the state’s education minister wants retailers to help pay the bill.
SA Minister for Education Blair Boyer said the clean-up was the “biggest decontamination effort South Australian schools have ever undertaken”.
“The specialised removal, cleaning and waste handling required comes with a massive price tag, and those costs are already piling up,” he said in a statement.
“South Australia is stepping up to quickly and safely remove this sand from schools, but the simple point is this: the clean-up bill is enormous, and the money will come from education budgets to pay for it.
“Today, I’m calling on the retailers to help fund the clean-up.”
Education Minister Blair Boyer says the clean-up bill for removing sand from schools in SA is “enormous”. (ABC News: Che Chorley)
Earlier this month, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) issued a national recall notice for various coloured sand products after laboratory testing detected traces of chrysotile asbestos — a type of naturally occurring asbestos.
The products were sold at several retailers around the country.
More than 500 SA public education sites had reported having items linked to the sand recall.
The recall closed dozens of schools interstate, while in SA, two Catholic special schools were closed temporarily to allow for deep cleaning.
Mr Boyer said that, according to advice from SafeWork SA, licensed cleaning services were required to conduct the clean-up while air monitoring was also taking place.
More than 500 public education sites in SA reported having items linked to the sand recall. (ABC News: Mark Moore)
Sites with loose sand also require lab-certified testing to be completed before students and staff can return to affected classrooms.
Mr Boyer told parliament that the effort to remove the products was “slow, meticulous and specialist work” which “can’t be rushed or done cheaply”.
“The public deserve to know how a banned product was allowed into Australia in the first place and who is going to pay for the consequences,” he said.
“States shouldn’t be left alone to carry the burden for a failure of regulation federally and of product testing by multi-billion dollar companies.”
Mr Boyer has previously called for an urgent national inquiry into how asbestos-containing children’s sand products were allowed into Australia and widely distributed.
That demand was echoed by ACT Education Minister Yvette Berry.