A Tauranga demolition company has been fined $67,687 for illegally disposing of asbestos-contaminated waste and clearing native plants.
'C' Side Services was found to have taken waste containing asbestos from a local church in April last year and burying it at a property in the suburb of Otumoetai.
The owner, Stephen Walling, was also convicted of clearing a protected ecological area.
Mr Walling claimed to have cleared the plants and buried the waste to create a driveway.
But the Tauranga District Court heard that a large quantity of buried asbestos was costly to remove and could be harmful to health.
Mr Walling has also been told to re-vegetate and remediate the land.
Illegal dumping of asbestos waste is a global problem - this was dumped in France. Photo: File picture - AFP
