12-05-2025
PFAS-contaminated compost sold to public, WA environmental regulator confirms
Leonard Machen had been filling his home vegetable garden with compost from a council-owned organic waste facility for years when he heard rumours it might be contaminated.
Based in Dardanup, about 180 kilometres south of Perth, Bunbury Harvey Regional Council (BHRC) has been turning kerbside food organics and garden organics (FOGO) waste from more than 40,000 South West households into compost for over a decade.
It then sells it back to residents and donates it to schools and community gardens.
The ABC can now confirm samples of the compost tested by the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER) in May and October last year contained a group of toxic "forever chemicals" called PFAS "above laboratory detection limits".
Mr Machen said the scale of the health risk was unclear but he had started removing the compost from his garden to be safe.
"You can't get any real answers from anyone," he said.
The facility stopped selling the compost and ceased all FOGO processing in December.
Local governments have started diverting it to landfill as they explore alternative solutions.
PFAS is found in a range of household products, even ones that claim to be compostable, like coffee cups.
Federal guidelines warn the chemicals can bioaccumulate in plants and animals with adverse impacts, and some varieties are recognised internationally as being toxic to humans and wildlife.
DWER said the FOGO waste was likely contaminated by household waste and plastics mixed up in green bins before it reached the facility.
The department said concentrations were generally low but any waste containing detectable levels of PFAS was unsuitable for recycling into compost.
However, it declined to comment on whether people should remove the contaminated product from their gardens.
BHRC chief executive Nick Edwards said while the council stopped selling the compost out of caution he did not think it was unsafe and would still happily use it on his own garden.
He said preliminary results of independent testing commissioned by BHRC had not detected PFAS, though he would not share the name of the company conducting the testing.
"It's important the focus is on the results rather than the company that's doing them," he said.
Mr Edwards said he was committed to getting the facility back up and running but it would take a whole-of-community effort.
The facility has struggled in recent years to manage increasing volumes of contaminated waste.
Mr Edwards said the waste was largely processed manually, then put through an 8-millimetre sieve before being sold.
Mr Machen, who has found several larger items like a plastic toy lion and roll of sticky tape in the compost, said decontamination measures were clearly falling short.
Jill Cross, a member of the Dardanup Environmental Action Group, said she had struggled to get clear information from BHRC or DWER about the level of PFAS contamination and potential health risks.
She said residents were worried that by the time it was better understood, it would be too late.
"It will be in the dust which will blow onto agricultural land and into Dardanup town site," she said.
"It will blow on people's roofs, into their water tanks."
Ms Cross said the regulator had failed to take BHRC to task on its management of the facility.
In 2016, BHRC successfully pushed back on several aspects of DWER's proposed composting standards, including the mandate that organic processing facilities be enclosed to prevent the spread of pollutants and minimise methane emissions.
In 2023, DWER issued a prevention notice to BHRC for failing to store waste, including partially processed compost stockpiles, under its licence, which posed a significant risk of pollution.
When asked if BHRC had complied with that notice, DWER said it was the subject of an "ongoing investigation".
"Therefore, it is not appropriate to make comment on the compliance status of the notice," a spokesperson said.
Mr Edwards told the ABC the facility met some but not all of the requirements by the deadline and was working closely with DWER on the remainder.
