One of the state's worst serial asbestos dumpers has continued to illegally dispose of hundreds of tonnes of deadly contaminated waste across Sydney after narrowly avoiding jail. Already owing hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, Dib Hanna failed to appear in court as the environmental regulator pursues him over eight fresh offences. Hanna had pleaded guilty to dumping 80 tonnes of asbestos-laced material on vacant land he broke into near Picnic Point in Sydney's south-west in 2012. "The asbestos had the potential to be blown by the wind into the air causing potential harm to the health of nearby residents who might breathe it in," Chief Justice of the Land and Environment Court, Brian Preston, found.The excavator and demolition contractor who at the time is paying off more than $200,000 in fines at a rate of $300 a month until 2072, having committed more than a dozen other offences. The Environment Protection Authority found that in December 2015 he had ditched 150 tonnes of waste near a home on Seventh Avenue in Llandilo, near Penrith. He was ordered in February last year to clean up the site, but six months later the waste was still there. The EPA found Hanna had dumped at least another 750 tonnes of asbestos-contaminated waste at properties in nearby Wallacia, Cranebrook and East Kurrajong, some vacant, others occupied. A property owner, who did not wish to be named, said she had responded to a flyer Hanna left in her letterbox advertising free top soil. Instead, she was left with waste that contained small shards of asbestos. The EPA said it could not comment on Hanna's case now that it was pursuing him for eight "repeat waste" offences, which carry a maximum penalty of $250,000 in fines, two years' jail or both.
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