Asbestos, am I being utterly crazy or is this unreasonable?

[Uniffo]

My neighbours are renovating. We are detached but still reasonably close. They have asbestos on some part of the outside of their house/along the garage frames etc. they are removing it all next week and casually told us that ‘I think you’re supposed to get it removed by specialists but we are just going to bin it.’ Meaning the wheely bins.

Could this not mean bits of asbestos come into our home? Our garden? Etc. we have a baby which is making me more worried.

I understand that health and safety guidelines are very different today, and there’s much more awareness about the dangers of asbestos. My comments are not intended to spread misinformation; they simply reflect my personal experience.

In the past, personal protective equipment (PPE) wasn’t commonly used. For example, I had a neighbor who would even bring home large asbestos pipe cut-offs. This was not unusual at the time—many people were exposed in ways that would be unthinkable now. It seems that modern standards might not account for how different life was for people back then.

Thank you yours is a nice balanced view

My ceiling came down a few years ago after a leak - and it tested positive with asbestos. It was the bobbly artex stuff.

The whole house was plastic sheeted up and every piece of furniture had to be cleaned and fabrics thrown away such was the risk from the asbestos fibres amongst the dust.

Asbestos is fine until it's broken up. My other ceilings still have it.

Exactly they are idiots in the extreme.
Asbestos in the wheelie bins that really takes the biscuit for sheer stupidity and negligence.
Definitely report and if need be phone police.

But you’re kind of proving the point: these neighbours aren’t getting a team in who know what they’re doing, they don’t have the know how or the equipment and they don’t seem to care.

Really bad! I work in a job where I due some asbestos training as part of CPD, and it was mildly terrifying. No one should be knowingly messing about with it!

*did

The risk with asbestos is breathing in the dust. If they start breaking it up the dust will go into the air immediately, but there's also a risk that it will be left lying around to be disturbed again in future. Dust will be be scattered about whenever they put anything else into the wheelie bins and again when the bins are emptied.

Anyone breathing in that dust is at risk of developing health problems. These probably won't happen immediately, and in fact can take years to develop but once you've breathed in enough of the dust it's like a ticking time bomb.

I'd pop over first thing and tell them you really aren't happy about their DIY disposal because it puts you and your family at risk as well as them and the refuse workers. If they shrug it off tell them you need to report it to environmental health at your council and get straight on the phone, don't leave it to email.

But it has been stated in the OP that this is not how it is going to be removed. So she should most definitely not calm down.

It will not be fine. They will not be using PPE. It will not be handled correctly, wet down to prevent dust, or disposed of via a hazardous waste collection.

As said in the OP: they are removing it all next week and casually told us that ‘I think you’re supposed to get it removed by specialists but we are just going to bin it.’ Meaning the wheely bins.

Asbestos goes to landfill, back into the ground where it came from - no, they shouldn't put it in the wheelie bin, but in practice it will just end up in the same place.

We don't know they won't be wetting down, you don't need to do that if you are simply unscrewing the panels.

If it all fits in a bin there can't be much of it!

I live near a shipyard where in the past men who brought their overalls home to be washed by their wives containing asbestos then contaminated their wives. I have asbestos roofing sheets on our outhouse, but am aware that as long as nothing is drilled into them or they are not broken up then they pose no risk. In your circumstances I would have no hesitation in contacting Environmental Health regarding your neighbours.

How will asbestos sheeting be put in a wheelie bin in the first place? It will need to be broken up. How will amateurs remove the asbestos without breaking it, anyway. It doesn't just go casually into landfill along with the household rubbish.

Seriously, what makes you think these people will be wearing PPE?

It does actually, we take our asbestos to the landfil site where the household waste goes and it just gets put in with everything else.

Fun fact, small radioactive sources, cobalt 60, caesium, radium, etc used in education go to landfill to0, via regular waste collection - you'd be amazed what's in there.

Stop fussing over nothing, it will be fine! You don’t know that @Purplehelmut that’s why people are saying op isn’t being unreasonable

We don't know they won't be, just because they are DIYers doesn't mean they are not following any guidelines...

Good job the OP doesn't live next to me, I have two asbestos water tanks recycled as planters in the front garden😁

We had our crumbling concrete garage roof tested and it was shown to be negative for asbestos but the council still required us to bag it up in a particular way before they could accept it for disposal, just in case. (I understand why. How do they know that it hadn't got mixed up with other fibrous concrete at some point if it was loose?)