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NSW’s Free Asbestos Disposal Trial: What It Actually Covers

NSW is trialling free household asbestos collection from 2027 — but it’s not free removal. Here’s what’s covered, what isn’t, and how to work out whether waiting makes sense for your job.

Last updated: 29 July 2026

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In July, the NSW Government announced $16 million to overhaul how asbestos is managed across the state. The part everyone noticed was $9 million for a two-year trial that will let households get asbestos waste picked up and taken away for free, starting in 2027.

Since then, roughly every second homeowner we quote has asked us the same question: should I just wait for the free one?

It’s a fair question. It deserves a straight answer, and the straight answer is more complicated than the headlines suggest.

We hold a NSW asbestos removal licence (AD214755) and we’re at Sydney’s asbestos-accepting landfills most weeks. Here’s what the scheme actually is, what it won’t do, and how to work out whether waiting makes sense for your particular situation.

Read this first

The Single Most Important Thing to Understand

Almost every news story called this “free asbestos removal.”

It isn’t. It’s free collection and disposal.

The difference matters enormously. Under the trial as the EPA has described it, you will phone a contracted waste company, book a pickup, and they will collect asbestos waste from your property and take it to a licensed landfill at no charge to you.

What that means in practice: the material needs to already be off your roof, off your fence, or out of your bathroom before they arrive. The scheme pays for the truck and the tip fee. It does not pay for the person who takes it down.

For most homeowners, taking it down is the expensive part — and for a lot of jobs, it’s the part you’re not legally allowed to do yourself.

Confirmed vs undecided

What’s Actually Been Confirmed

Here’s what the NSW Government has committed to in writing, separated from what’s still being worked out. We think you’re better served by knowing which is which.

Confirmed

$9 million allocated to the collection trial, from a $16m total package
It runs as a two-year trial, starting in 2027
The NSW EPA is the lead agency
The EPA will contract one or more waste service providers. You’ll phone the provider directly, book a time, and they’ll collect from your property and take the waste to a licensed facility
It applies to “NSW householders, including anyone renovating their home or who has legacy asbestos in their home”
It’s for “smaller amounts” of asbestos waste

Still undecided

The EPA is designing the program over the next 6 to 12 months, then running a tender. Genuinely open questions:

How much you can dispose of. No limit has been published
Whether you must remove and wrap it yourself, or whether any removal help is included
What packaging standard will be required, and whether materials are supplied
Whether friable asbestos is included at all
Whether renters, landlords or builders working on a home can use it
Where it runs. No government document uses the word “statewide”
The exact start date. “2027” is as specific as it gets

That last point deserves a caution. The EPA’s own description is 6 to 12 months of program design, then a tender process, then a two-year service. If you take that timeline literally, a 2027 start is tight. We’d treat 2027 as a target rather than a promise.

The law hasn’t moved

What the Scheme Does Not Change

This is where most of the confusion is going to happen, so it’s worth being blunt.

The trial changes who pays the tip fee. It does not change the law about who can handle asbestos.

In NSW, under the Work Health and Safety Regulation, you can remove asbestos yourself without a licence only if both of these are true:

It is non-friable (bonded — the solid sheeting that doesn’t crumble in your hand), and
The total area is 10 square metres or less

Anything above 10 square metres of bonded asbestos, and any amount at all of friable asbestos, legally requires a licensed asbestos removalist. That rule is untouched by the trial.

Ten square metres is less than people imagine. It’s roughly:

About five and a half standard 1800 × 900 mm sheets
Around six metres of a typical fibro fence — see asbestos fence removal cost
A small bathroom’s wall lining — most bathrooms exceed it
Nowhere near a garage roof, and not remotely close to a house roof

For scale: a standard fibro fence along a 20-metre boundary is roughly 36 square metres. A modest fibro roof is 100 square metres or more — see asbestos roof removal. Both are well past the DIY line, trial or no trial.

Similarly unchanged: clearance certificate requirements on licensed work, SafeWork NSW notification for licensed removal, and the rules about how asbestos must be wrapped and transported.

What you’d actually save

What Asbestos Disposal Costs in Sydney Right Now

To judge whether waiting is worth it, you need to know what you’d actually be saving. This is where most coverage of the scheme falls down — the real numbers are surprising.

Sydney has only a handful of facilities that accept household asbestos, and the thing that determines your cost isn’t the per-tonne rate. It’s the minimum charge.

The per-tonne rates across Sydney sit in a fairly narrow band — roughly $594 to $739 per tonne. But the minimum charges are wildly different, and almost every household load is small enough that you pay the minimum.

Here’s what one asbestos-cement sheet — roughly 15 kilos — costs to dispose of, depending on where you take it:

Facility	Minimum charge	Takes small hand-unloaded loads?
Kimbriki, Terrey Hills	$15 (up to 20 kg)	Yes — 7 days, no booking needed
Lucas Heights	~$149	Yes — small loads accepted
Elizabeth Drive, Kemps Creek	1 tonne minimum (~$610)	No — tipper vehicles only
Bingo Eastern Creek	1 tonne minimum (~$594)	Effectively trade only

Gate fees as published by each facility (Kimbriki, Cleanaway, Bingo) for FY2025-26/2026-27, incl GST; NSW waste levy per the EPA’s FY2026-27 rate. Fees change — phone the facility before you drive.

Read that again. The same single sheet of fibro costs $15 at one Sydney tip and around $600 at another. That’s a 40-fold difference on identical waste, created entirely by minimum charges.

A large part of every one of those fees is the NSW waste levy, currently $180.20 per tonne in the Sydney metropolitan area. Asbestos is not exempt from it — though the government is separately reviewing whether it should be.

One correction worth making

The EPA publishes an official list of facilities that accept household asbestos. That page was last updated in February 2024, and it still lists Horsley Park — a facility Veolia’s own website confirms is no longer operational. If you’re following NSW Government advice, it is currently possible to wrap up a load of asbestos, drive to Horsley Park, and find a closed gate. We’ve flagged this with the EPA. Until it’s corrected, phone ahead before you drive anywhere.

The honest read

So Should You Wait for 2027?

Here’s our honest read, and it’s genuinely different depending on what you’ve got.

Waiting probably makes sense if…

You have a small amount of bonded asbestos — well under 10 square metres
It’s stable and undamaged, not crumbling, not weathered through
It’s already removed and safely stored, or somewhere it can stay put safely
You’re not on a deadline — no sale, no renovation, no build starting
You’re comfortable that the cap, start date and eligibility rules could all land somewhere that doesn’t suit you

If that’s you, the honest answer is you might save a few hundred dollars in tip fees by waiting. We’d rather tell you that than sell you something you don’t need.

Waiting is a bad idea if…

It’s friable. Anything crumbling, powdery or damaged — pipe lagging, some old insulation, fire-damaged sheeting. This is the material that actually hurts people, it legally requires a licensed removalist, and there’s no indication the trial will cover it
It’s more than 10 square metres. You can’t legally do this yourself now and you won’t be able to in 2027 either. The trial at best saves you the disposal component — which on a fence job is roughly 10 to 17 per cent of the total (see what asbestos removal actually costs in Sydney), and on a roof job somewhere between 8 and 35 per cent depending on access
It’s damaged or deteriorating. Broken sheeting, a cracked roof, storm damage. Every month it sits there it releases fibres
You’re selling, renovating or building. The timeline doesn’t work
It’s a rental you own. Landlord eligibility isn’t confirmed, and you have duties to your tenants now

The trap in the middle

There’s a scenario we expect to see a lot of, and it’s worth naming.

Someone with a fibro fence or a garage roof reads “free asbestos removal,” decides to wait, and then in 2027 discovers the trial covers disposal only — so they still have to get it down. And because they’ve now got a “free” disposal option, they’re tempted to pull it down themselves.

If that’s more than 10 square metres, that’s illegal. It’s also how people get exposed. Fibro is at its most dangerous when it’s being broken, drilled, cut or dropped — exactly what happens when someone rushes a fence on a Saturday.

The penalties are not trivial either. In NSW, doing the wrong thing with household asbestos waste carries fines of up to $7,500 for an individual, and illegal dumping penalties for asbestos are double the standard rate — up to $1 million for an individual and $4 million for a company if the matter goes to court.

Between now and then

What to Do Between Now and Then

Whether you wait or not, these are worth doing.

1
Find out what you’ve actually got. Most people guess, and most guesses are wrong in both directions. A sample test typically costs somewhere in the range of $25 to $200 depending on turnaround — get a sample tested and it tells you definitively whether it’s asbestos and whether it’s bonded or friable. That single fact determines everything else.
2
Measure it properly. Length × height, all of it, added together. Not “it’s just a bit of fibro.” The 10 square metre line is the difference between a legal DIY job and one that requires a licensed contractor, and it’s the line the trial’s eventual cap will most likely be set around.
3
Don’t disturb it. If it’s stable, painted and intact, bonded asbestos is generally safest left alone until it’s removed properly. Don’t water-blast it, don’t drill it, don’t sand it, and don’t let a handyman “just take it down quickly.”
4
If it’s already down, store it safely. Double-wrapped in heavy plastic — 200 micron is the standard most Sydney facilities require — sealed with tape, kept dry, kept away from where people and pets go. Parcels of around 20 kilos, because that’s what a person can safely lift and what tips will accept by hand.
5
Keep an eye on the detail. When the EPA publishes the cap and the eligibility rules — expected over the next six to twelve months — that’s when you’ll know whether this applies to you. We’re tracking it and we’ll update this page each time something firms up.

One-minute check

Will the Trial Cover Your Job?

Walk through what you’ve got, how much of it there is, and where you are — and get an honest answer, including whether you’re in territory that needs a licensed removalist regardless. If the answer is “wait for the trial,” it’ll say so.

Will the trial cover your job?

About a minute. No details needed until the end — and only if it helps.

This quick checker needs JavaScript. You can still get a straight answer — send a couple of photos and your suburb and a licensed removalist will tell you whether the 2027 trial is likely to help, or whether your job needs a licensed removalist regardless.

Get a fixed quote Call 0418 882 285

Common questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Is asbestos removal free in NSW?

No. From 2027, NSW is trialling free collection and disposal of household asbestos waste — a contractor will pick up waste from your property and take it to a licensed landfill at no cost. The removal itself, taking the material off your roof or fence, is not covered.

When does the NSW free asbestos disposal trial start?

The government has said 2027. No month has been announced. The EPA is designing the program over 6 to 12 months from mid-2026 and will then run a tender to appoint contractors, so treat 2027 as a target rather than a fixed date.

How much asbestos can I dispose of for free?

Not yet decided. The plan describes it as “smaller amounts.” The EPA has said it will consult on how much asbestos a typical homeowner is likely to find before setting a limit.

Does the trial mean I can remove asbestos myself?

No. NSW law is unchanged. You may only remove asbestos yourself if it is non-friable and totals 10 square metres or less. Any friable asbestos, or more than 10 square metres of bonded asbestos, requires a licensed removalist.

Does it cover friable asbestos?

Unknown. No government source has said either way. Given friable asbestos legally requires a licensed removalist and specialist controls, we would not assume it’s included.

Can landlords or builders use the trial?

Not confirmed. The scheme is described as being for “householders.” When the EPA was asked directly whether builders and contractors working on residential renovations could book a pickup, it answered that the details would be determined in the next 6 to 12 months.

Is it available across all of NSW, including Sydney?

Not confirmed. No government document says “statewide,” and no councils or regions have been named. Sydney has been neither included nor excluded.

What does asbestos disposal cost in Sydney now?

It depends far more on which facility you use than on how much you have. Minimum charges range from around $15 at Kimbriki to a one-tonne minimum of roughly $600 at some western Sydney landfills. Always phone ahead — one facility on the EPA’s official list has closed.

Should I wait for the trial before removing my asbestos fence?

Usually no. A typical fibro fence is well over the 10 square metre DIY limit, so you’ll need a licensed removalist either way, and disposal is only about 10 to 17 per cent of the cost of that job. Waiting a year or more to save a fraction rarely makes sense — and never if the fence is damaged.

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Act Now or Wait? We’ll Tell You Straight

If you’ve got asbestos and you’re not sure whether to act now or wait, we’ll tell you straight — including when waiting is the right call. HazWreck is a licensed NSW asbestos removal and demolition contractor (AD214755) working across Sydney.

HazWreck Pty Ltd

Unit 33A, 11-21 Underwood Rd, Homebush NSW 2140

0418 882 285 · info@hazwreck.com.au

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Update log

How This Page Has Changed

We revise this page as the EPA firms up detail. Last updated 29 July 2026.

29 July 2026 Page published. Disposal figures verified against each facility’s current published gate fees and the NSW EPA FY2026-27 waste levy. Covers the NSW Asbestos Plan of Action announced 6 July 2026.