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A small area at the bottom of our garden contains a bit of building rubble and I've noticed what looks like a small (about a foot square) piece of asbestos sheet. I can't confirm that it's asbestos sheet but it certainly looks the way I remember it from when I was younger (before anyone was worried about this sort of thing); it's light grey, smooth on one side and slightly textured on the other.
If it is something nasty, hopefully any fibres will be safely bonded into the material but I'd like to get rid of it. It's obviously stupidly reckless to put it in the general waste to be crunched up by the collection lorry so will the local tip have anywhere I can dispose of it and, if not, what do I do?
It's probably perfectly harmless and must have been there for decades but if it does contain asbestos it's probably best to get shot of it.
Call in a local company to test and remove professionally.
When I found a sheet I got some special bags from the local recycling center and they had a special area to store/dispose of it.
Our local tip takes asbestos that's double bagged and secure.
Look on your local Council website. A lot take it. As above, it'll probably need to be double bagged, and you may need to book it in.
And keep it wet, keeps the fibres down
Call in a local company to test and remove professionally.
And get absolutely rinsed.
Council can often test for it from a small sample. Think it was about 30quid in edinburgh. You then dispose of it along their guidelines. Keep it damp while moving it then double bag it etc. Like you say though if its bound in cement its reasonable safe.
As everyone has mentioned above keep it moist double bag it and take it to the tip
Amazon and eBay sell the bags
get a set of overalls and mask while doing it and double bag them up at the end for disposal aswell.
For a piece that size You will be able to get the bags and the safety kit for less than the cost of a test, so as long as your tip takes it it’s easier/cheaper to just assume it’s aspestos and treat with caution than test
And get absolutely rinsed.
...is one way of looking at it.
An alternative view might be....
Saving you from a long, lingering, painful death.
In which case it's probably a bargain.
Like you say though if its bound in cement its reasonable safe.
I've been dealing with asbestos in refurbishment jobs for two decades and have had lots of training as a result. I wouldn't want to make that assessment.
I'd get it tested by a professional. It's not that expensive and it's the only way to know.
Look on your local Council website.
Good call, I should have thought of that. Sadly there's a £13.10 minimum charge which is a bummer for such a small scrap of 'might be' asbesto (this'll cover up to a 6'x3' sheet).
Better safe than sorry I suppose (perhaps I should have a scratch about and see if I can find any more).
Turn of phrase I'm guessing, but don't 'scratch' around down there too much!
£13.10 to remove some asbestos?
Peanuts
cement bound white asbestos. If you don't break it, it wont release fibres so is relatively safe. If its just one bit, wrap it up in a rubble bag or similar (you can get the correct bags on amazon for a couple of quid), book it into the the local council tip and take it there. dont damage it, dont rub it up, dont open the bag once sealed. If its only a small bit, wouldn't get it sampled, as that's going to cost more than the disposal costs which is highly likely from your description to be asbestos. Wear a pp3 or similar filtered mask, when handling it. If any risk of fibres present buy a disposable suit to wear, which then also gets stuck in a bag at the end of the job, mask off last.
if it's a tiddly quantity of cement sheeting type, mask, double bag, tip, job done, surely?
If your local tip jobsworths are anythhing like our local tip jobsworths you MUST do the following:
Go to the tip and fill in a form then take away the required amount of special wrapping plastic.
Tape up the asbestos cement sheet in it and take it back, have an argument with the jobsworth, then sign the same sheet to certify that you brought the stuff back.
Once you've dumped it in the correct container it will be taken away, emptied onto waste ground and a big digger with spiked wheels will drive back and forth breaking it all up and tearing the plastic open.
big digger with spiked wheels will drive back and forth breaking it all up and tearing the plastic open.
cynical but probably fairly accurate description
What yetidave said +1. edit : both posts
If you wear gloves you should dispose of them with the suspected material - or you could do it without and just wash your hands.
Saving you from a long, lingering, painful death.
Unlikely if it's been in his back garden for an age anyway.
Make sure you pick up appropriate PPE, and if unsure pay someone else to do it, but if you're nearby when they do it rather than doing it yourself you're still at a small risk from the fibres, and you've been at risk for a while if it is breaking up. The act of moving it won't make much of a difference.
I’d get it tested by a professional. It’s not that expensive and it’s the only way to know.
Which i did actually say right at the start of my post.
What i was getting at was find out if it it then dispose of it correctly. I might gave been a big off hand about it but there are pkenty of "professionals" that will mask up then proceed to double bag it and take it to the skip... with asbestos tax.
[i]Call in a local company to test and remove professionally.[/i]
Its such a small amount, why test it? You have to take a sample (i.e break some off) anyway. I would just treat it as asbestos and get it double bagged and find a tip that accepts it.
Squirt it with a hosepipe, don't saw or grind it up. Its inert and we are in contact with it all the time, plenty of buildings where its still in the soffits, floor tiles, stair nosings, toilet cisterns, window sills etc. If its in good condition its often better just to leave it be rather than try and strip it out.
What he said, 100%. ^^^
Its such a small amount, why test it?
Because you don't know what it contains and it might be really bad for you. You won't know for about 30 years though
I've met quite a few people who've subsequently died of mesothelioma after what most people would consider inconsequential exposure. It doesn't take much exposure to potentially kill you.
One guy was a steward on the QE2 and occasionaly hung his white jacket on a coat hanger over an asbestos lagged pipe in his cabin. That killed him when he was 56.
£13.10 to remove some asbestos
Peanuts
Mmmmmmmm.......danger snacks..
The danger with asbestos is when you have continued exposure to it. Picking a piece out the garden & putting it in a bag offers no risk, unless you eat it. Wash your hands afterwards. It’s not plutonium
The danger with asbestos is when you have continued exposure to it. Picking a piece out the garden & putting it in a bag offers no risk, unless you eat it. Wash your hands afterwards. It’s not plutonium
Not a helpful comment. it's BS!
This:
I’ve met quite a few people who’ve subsequently died of mesothelioma after what most people would consider inconsequential exposure. It doesn’t take much exposure to potentially kill you.
My Dad died of mesothelioma with very minimal exposure. We think it may have been 1 job he did on a building site when he was 19. He was jcb driver and wasn't working with any asbestos directly. Symptoms started to show at 61 and he died at 63
With all due respect to you and your late father trickydisco, the problem with asbestos related diseases is it's not known how much exposure leads to developing them and unless someone directly worked with asbestos then it's not really possible to pin point the exposure location.
Because of the very nature of asbestos fibres being invisible to the naked eye when in suspension then it may be totally possible for someone to be contaminated without ever really knowing. And because asbestos was widely used in many buildings and previously poorly managed exposure could have happened anywhere really.
I agree the best option in this case is put on a mask, wet the product down and double bag and take to tip.
However, if there is larger amounts there, then I would recommend getting it investigated by an asbestos surveyor as there may be a larger problem at hand such as a former dumping site or demolished former building etc.
If people were dropping dead after minimal exposure to asbestos. Large areas of the country would be out of bounds completely. This is not the case. Thats not BS
If people were dropping dead after minimal exposure to asbestos. Large areas of the country would be out of bounds completely. This is not the case.
People are. Just not everyone who's ever been exposed.
I know people who worked for years every day with raw asbestos with absolutely no protection who are perfectly fine.
Some of their wives are dead from washing their clothes and some of their kids are dead from giving their dad a cuddle when he got home from work.
A few fibres can kill you or you might survive repeated exposure with no ill effects.
It's a lottery ... not one i'd willingly choose to enter, no matter how small the risk.
Uncle died of asbestosis
Took 3weeks to cremate him!
(Sorry)
Your local council enviro team should be able to help.
Don't wet it with a hose, gently spray with dilute pva. Bag it appropriately and take it to the tip. most asbestolux board is pretty safe so long as it's not broken. Artex is the proper nasty one as so many people sand it back & they bulked it out with whatever was to hand.
My dad worked in the plaster research department at ICI in the 50s, 60s and 70s. He obviously got exposure and has occasional symptoms of asbestosis, but luckily his body appears to be calcifying the fibres. He's more worried about the mildly radioactive gypsum they used to use in the regular plaster.
Well it's been rather inexpertly bagged up, smothered in tape & taken to the tip. I hope that it was bagged up well enough but they took it and due to it's rather small size they kindly didn't charge either.
The asbestos at the tip was all just stored in a locked up shipping type container and I did wonder about the atmosphere in there but everything was bagged or plastic wrapped.
I have a vague recollection of breaking up stuff like this as a kid and I'm pretty sure that, back in the 70s, my Mum's ironing board had a rough looking asbestos square on it where the iron stood (I was probably surrounded by it at school too).
I've seen broken asbestos board lying around on beaches in Spain. We're relatively lucky in the UK.
edit - removed now that the OP has dealt with it