A Tauranga demolition and digger hire company has been fined $67,687 for illegally disposing asbestos-contaminated waste and fill material, and clearing native vegetation in Otumoetai last year.

‘C' Side Services has been convicted and fined for five offences under the Resource Management Act in the Environment Court this week.

The Grange road site where the asbestos-contaminated waste and fill material was dumped by Stephen Walling. Photo: Supplied.

The charges included permitting a contaminant from an industrial or trade site, namely demolition waste containing asbestos, to be discharged on to or into land and undertaking indigenous vegetation clearance and cleanfill disposal in a special ecological area without a resource consent.

Prosecution was brought against the company for the illegal activities which took part at ‘C' Side Services owner Stephen Craig Walling's Grange Road property were asbestos contaminated demolition waste was disposed of in April last year, says a statement from the Bay of Plenty Regional Council.

The company was also convicted of clearing native vegetation in a special ecological area and illegal filling took place between August 2010 and April last year.

In 2013 both Tauranga City Council and Bay of Plenty Regional Council received a series of complaints about the demolition material containing asbestos being trucked from a church demolition site in Fraser Street to the Grange Road site, bordering the Waikareao Estuary's Daisy Hardwick Walkway.

About half of the Daisy Hardwick Walkway is within a Category 1 Special Ecological Area and the affected site is now listed with both councils as a contaminated site.

Samples from Grange Rd site tested positive for white, brown and blue asbestos, and Walling was issued an abatement notice to stop work.

Walling said he was putting clean-fill, dirt and concrete onto the property to form a driveway to a house site and to create a grassed garden area with exotic palms.

He said he had taken 15 truckloads of demolition waste from the church to the Grange Road site and had also allowed two other contractors to dispose concrete and dirt there.

A total of 372 square metres of the Special Ecological Area and its 5 metre buffer zone had been cleared of vegetation.

An environmental report said the cleared area contained some indigenous vegetation and was an integral part of a larger area of indigenous vegetation and habitat.

During sentencing this week, the court hear that asbestos was risky when broken, and while burial was the proper method of disposal, where large quantities of asbestos had been buried in rural areas, the costs to developers and landowners in removing it were extremely high.

Inhaled asbestos can cause asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma.

‘C' Side Services was fined $22,687 for asbestos disposal, $22,000 for clearing the special ecological area and $23,000 for illegal filling.

It has also been ordered to re-vegetate the area and remediate the contaminated land.