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- Australian regional council pursues decade of asbestos removal from buildings
The Sunshine Coast Regional Council in Queensland, Australia has embarked on an ambitious, decade-long plan to rid all its public buildings of asbestos.
The council has budgeted approximately $2.5 million through the year 2021 to take the hazardous mineral out of its buildings and dispose of it, according to the Sunshine Coast News.
The plan calls for $100,000 yearly from now until late 2013 when an additional $200,000 per year will be aimed at the asbestos program through 2021.
Asbestos fibers that become airborne are a health danger to anyone in the vicinity, and are linked to
lung cancer, malignant
mesothelioma and
asbestosis. That connection to the hazardous mineral has been the focus of many
asbestos settlements and
mesothelioma lawsuits in recent years.
Although a council
spokewoman declined to specify how much asbestos may be contained in the council's various buildings, the mineral was used in many building materials such as insulation and concrete as late as 1990, the newspaper reported.
"Some high risk sites have already had known asbestos-containing material removed, while options for other sites may include the encapsulation [sealing] of the material to ensure the material's safety," the spokeswoman told the News.