The firm behind an asbestos-contaminated Sydney park says it won't test other project sites and will instead wait for advice, despite previously confirming the same garden mulch had been used elsewhere in Sydney.
Clean up is set to begin on Tuesday to remove more than 10 tonnes of asbestos-laden mulch laid down at the new Rozelle Parklands after the alarm was raised when a child brought home the material earlier this month.
Project contractor John Holland CPB Joint Venture said it will comply with directions from the NSW environmental watchdog to "methodically work through the park" to remove all affected material by February 29.
Replacement organic mulch is set to be laid over a ten-month period with the first sections of the park to reopen in March. A supplier has not been confirmed.
Seventeen contaminated samples have been found across the Rozelle Parklands since January 10
A traffic island a kilometre from the park became the latest place where the mulch containing bonded asbestos was discovered, prompting fears the contamination may be more widespread.
Transport secretary Josh Murray has repeatedly said there is no evidence that any other sites have been impacted by the contaminated mulch.
Mr Murray said Transport for NSW and John Holland CPB Joint Venture had provided all of their samples from the Rozelle site to the state's environmental watchdog which had also carried out its own sampling.
"We have to leave that investigation in the hands of the EPA (the NSW Environment Protection Authority) to give further advice as to where the contamination may have come from," he told reporters on Monday.
When pressed whether John Holland had done further testing across other similar sites and projects, executive Mark Davies said the firm would await findings from the EPA as to the contamination source before reassessing their position.
Mr Davies confirmed mulch from supplier Greenlife Resource Recovery had been used elsewhere and the company was still tracing its records of all recently constructed projects.
"We're going through the timeline of when the product may have been used elsewhere," he said.
Mr Davies acknowledged "the reality of this being a widely used recycled product" but said the company would not be conducting testing on previously completed projects.
He said he had "no personal evidence" of whether the material that was delivered to Rozelle was also supplied to other sites.
It was revealed last week that the mulch used at the park required two rounds of testing before it was laid down, but the checks failed to detect the potentially hazardous asbestos.
Mr Davies confirmed the mulch was tested both at source and before delivery.
The replacement mulch is set to be audited by the EPA.
