No transfer station in the Surf Coast Shire takes asbestos, so a Torquay job runs by different rules to one in Geelong. Get the material tested first, then get a quote from a licensed removalist.
Torquay has grown fast, and a lot of that growth has landed on top of the old town rather than beside it. Original beach houses and holiday shacks get renovated or knocked down, and that is usually the moment asbestos turns up. Asbestos cement was used in Australian homes from the mid 1940s until the late 1980s, so anything built or extended before 1990 deserves a look before a crowbar goes near it.
We are not a removalist and we hold no licence. What we do is put you in touch with licensed asbestos removalists we work with, and their WorkSafe Victoria licence number appears on every quote. You deal with the removalist directly. If you are not certain the material is asbestos at all, start with a sample test, because it is cheap and it settles the question. The same applies across Geelong and the rest of the region.
Samples go to a NATA accredited laboratory, and published Victorian rates run about $88 to $160 per sample. Most Torquay houses need three to eight, because a fence, an eaves lining and a bathroom wall sheet are three separate samples, not one.
Old fibro back fences go brittle and start cracking along the bottom edge, and salt air on the coast does not help. Published Victorian figures put a whole fence at $1,000 to $3,500, with a minimum job charge of $800 to $1,500 that applies even to a short run.
Super Six corrugated roofing, fibro eaves and old beach house sheds are common around Torquay and Jan Juc. Victorian rates run about $40 to $120 per square metre, with a garage or small roof at $3,500 to $5,500 and a full set of eaves at $1,500 to $2,500.
Asbestos is not accepted at the Torquay waste drop off or at any other Surf Coast Shire site, so it has to travel to a licensed landfill. Licensed removalists take the waste away as part of the job, wrapped and labelled the way EPA Victoria requires.
Torquay's older housing sits squarely inside the asbestos cement era, and the town has been renovating and rebuilding through it for years. The Victorian Government puts asbestos in one in three Australian homes, which is a national figure. There is no published number for Torquay or the Surf Coast, and we are not going to invent one. Treat a pre 1990 house as a maybe and test it.
It is rarely one obvious sheet. The usual finds on this coast are wall and ceiling sheeting, eaves linings, a fibro back fence, the shed or garage, Super Six roofing and vinyl floor tiles with the backing underneath them. Left alone and in sound condition, non friable material like this is generally not the problem. Drilling it, cutting it, sanding it or water blasting it is.
What it costs depends on what the material is and how much of it there is. Published Victorian figures put the minimum job at $800 to $1,500, a whole fibro fence at $1,000 to $3,500 and a house roof at $4,000 to $15,000. Those are Melbourne metro benchmarks rather than Geelong quotes, because nobody publishes pricing for this region. Prices are indicative and GST treatment varies between providers, so ask each removalist whether their quote includes GST, and see the cost page for the full breakdown.
This is the part that catches people out on the Surf Coast. Surf Coast Shire is blunt about it: asbestos roofing sheets and building products are not accepted at any transfer station in the shire. That rules out the Torquay waste drop off along with Anglesea, Winchelsea and Lorne. It cannot go in a kerbside bin or a hard waste collection either, and a general waste skip is not an option.
EPA Victoria keeps a register of the landfills licensed to receive asbestos waste, and exactly one site in the whole Barwon region is on it. That is Drysdale Landfill, run by the City of Greater Geelong. Small domestic quantities only, a 6 by 4 trailer is the cap, and fees apply. Ring (03) 5251 2935 before you load anything, because a licensed landfill can still decline a load and you may need to book a time so staff are ready for it.
If you do take a small amount yourself, it has to be wrapped in polythene around 200 micron thick, sealed with tape and marked with the asbestos warning label before it moves. Dust and friable pieces go into double bags, filled no more than half full and kept under 30 kg. Use a licensed removalist and the disposal is their job, not yours.
Plenty of asbestos content gets this wrong, usually by copying New South Wales wording, so here it is properly. Victoria's OHS Regulations cap unlicensed removal at 10 square metres of non friable material, and at one hour of removal work in any seven day period. Both caps have to hold, and the hour is cumulative across jobs rather than resetting for each one.
Those regulations bind employers and self employed people at workplaces. WorkSafe's compliance code says plainly that they do not apply to someone removing asbestos at their own home, because a home is not a workplace, and it recommends homeowners follow the same code anyway. The caps become law the moment a tradesperson, a tenant, a rental property or a paid helper is involved. On a Torquay renovation with a builder already on site, that is exactly the situation you are in.
A full fence line, a garage or a house roof is well past 10 square metres and well past an hour, which is the honest reason those jobs go to a licensed removalist. Friable material never qualifies at any quantity and needs a Class A licence holder. Where a clearance certificate is required after removal at a home, the duty to obtain it sits with the licence holder rather than with you.
No. Surf Coast Shire does not accept asbestos roofing sheets or building products at any transfer station in the shire, including Torquay, Anglesea, Winchelsea and Lorne. The only site in the Barwon region licensed by EPA Victoria to receive it is Drysdale Landfill, which takes small domestic quantities up to a 6 by 4 trailer and charges a fee. Ring them on (03) 5251 2935 before you drive over.
Possibly, and nobody can tell you from a photo. Asbestos cement was standard in that era, but the only way to know is a laboratory test on a sample. Published Victorian rates run about $88 to $160 per sample, and most houses need three to eight because each different material counts as its own sample.
A licensed removalist, before the machines arrive. Once a builder or any other tradesperson is working on the site it counts as a workplace, so the 10 square metre and one hour limits apply as law rather than as advice. The licence holder also has to notify WorkSafe first, at least 24 hours ahead for 10 square metres or less of non friable material and at least five days ahead for anything bigger. You contract with the removalist directly, and we will put you in touch.
Leave the pieces where they are and keep people and pets away from them. Do not sweep up the broken bits or blast them with a hose, because that is what spreads fibres. Get a sample tested, then get a quote from a licensed removalist. Published Victorian figures put a whole fence at $1,000 to $3,500, and the minimum job charge of $800 to $1,500 tends to swallow a small repair anyway.
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