Asbestos has been confirmed at more sites across Sydney, as the recycling industry asks suppliers to do more to manage contamination risks.
Domremy College at Five Dock in Sydney's inner west became the fifth school to confirm asbestos following a number of sites being tested after asbestos was found in mulch at Liverpool West Public School earlier in February.
The college remains open on Monday with the contaminated site isolated and cordoned off.
Results are still to be confirmed at three southwest Sydney schools: Edmondson Park Public School, Mount Annan Christian College at Currans Hill and Trinity Catholic Primary School at Kemps Creek.
St Luke's Catholic College at Marsden Park will close this week because of asbestos contamination. (Dan Himbrechts/AAP PHOTOS)
In western Sydney, St Luke's Catholic College at Marsden Park will close this week, while Penrith Christian School at Orchard Hills remains open with the contaminated site fenced off after asbestos discoveries at the two schools were confirmed on Sunday.
Liverpool West remains closed with students offered in-person learning at nearby Gulyangarri Public School.
An Aldi supermarket at Cobbitty southwest of Sydney, a site at Riverstone Sports Centre and an area of a shared path along the Parramatta Light Rail project at Telopea in Sydney's northwest are also set to be contained on Monday.
Asbestos has been confirmed at three other sites which the EPA did not reveal, saying they are not publicly accessible.
Waste Management and Resource Recovery Association of Australia chief executive Gayle Sloan said the industry worked hard to manage, mitigate and address the risks of asbestos, which need to be addressed by the whole supply chain.
"Ideally material destined for recycling should be classified at the source to ensure anything not capable of being recycled - like asbestos - is not taken to a recycling facility in the first place," Ms Sloan said on Monday.
More than 40 sites including schools, hospitals and parks have been contaminated.
Fire and Rescue NSW crews inspected more than 120 sites identified by the agency on the weekend.
More than 90 per cent of the mulch identified as potentially containing asbestos had been tested, Premier Chris Minns told ABC Radio on Monday.
"We're getting towards the end so I don't want people to think this is never-ending," he said.
The government is considering increases to fines.
For the latest information on our asbestos investigation see NSW EPA media release — NSW EPA (@NSW_EPA) https://t.co/aAs7KRYLocFebruary 18, 2024
Sydney Olympic Park has been cleared ahead of a big weekend of concerts in the entertainment precinct, including Taylor Swift's shows.
The EPA is investigating a complicated supply chain as its probes how the mulch became contaminated, but the agency's chief executive Tony Chappel has cautioned against prematurely attributing blame.
Greenlife Resource Recovery is challenging a prevention order in court and said its mulch is independently tested by approved laboratories and the company was confident it left its facility free of contamination.
The EPA has previously issued notices at the Bringelly site in Sydney's southwest occupied by Greenlife since 2022 after asbestos fragments were discovered in 2016.
A company spokesperson said the site was subject to comprehensive clean-up and remediation works, undertaken by the previous occupants and accepted by the EPA before Greenlife started operations there.