A Sydney man who founded the Clean Up Israel campaign has been accused of causing land and water pollution by allegedly dumping asbestos-contaminated waste on his property in Wollondilly.
Phillip Foxman, who also runs Botany Building Recyclers in Banksmeadow, has been accused of illegally dumping between 25,000 and 35,000 tonnes of processed waste on his land at The Oaks.
The cost of dumping that amount of waste at $70.30 a tonne in a legal facility, plus other costs, would be more than $2.4 million.
Mr. Foxman denied to The Sun-Herald that he illegally dumped waste on the site, saying he has development approval to build on the site on Evelyns Range Road.
He denied the asbestos on his property posed a health risk or pollution, saying it was ”bonded asbestos” and there was no ”environmental risk”.
He told The Sun-Herald last week he believed he was a victim of entrapment by the NSW Department of the Environment, Climate Change and Water and that the department was very selective in who it chose to pursue. ”I am an environmentalist. They know that I do a lot of good things for the environment.”
In documents filed in the Land and Environment Court of NSW, it is alleged he transported the waste to his property from his Banksmeadow waste facility between September 2009 and May 2010.
Wollondilly Council also alleges the waste has polluted land and water.
The department has issued Mr. Foxman’s other company, Foxman Environmental, with a clean-up notice and a spokesman said the dumping was under investigation. The notice states that tests have confirmed asbestos was found.
Mr. Foxman said the department knew that very small amounts of asbestos find their way into recycled waste, and its own specifications acknowledge such by requiring waste recyclers to ”minimize” its content. But he added: ”Once it [asbestos] gets into the ground you neutralize it.”
Mr. Foxman’s company has previously been fined over breaches of its recycling license. Mr. Foxman said he founded Clean Up Israel following the collapse of the bridge over the Yarkon River during the Maccabiah Games in 1997, in which four Australian athletes died and more than 70 others were injured.
He was in Israel at the time of the tragedy, and on returning to Australia he met the chairman of Clean Up Australia, Ian Kiernan, and the idea for Clean Up Israel was established. He returned last week from Israel where he had organised 100,000 volunteers for this year’s Clean Up Israel day held on March 29.
Mr. Kiernan said: ”How do you say to people - we don’t want you to clean up?”
