DC played with recalled asbestos sand

[AsbestosWorriez]

Just got an email from Hobbycraft and we purchased a box with the exact product code that has been recalled. The sand is the first thing the kids played with, we made some artwork and it went everywhere.

I have health anxiety at the best of times and am in complete bits. I feel I have failed my children.

If anyone has some more level headed information please let me know, there is really little information given but it says to dispose of with gloves and a mask which is so worrying.

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I would contact your local trading standards service.
Don't touch the product.
Cover it with something.
Also ask your local authority waste disposal department for advice on safe disposal.
All the best.

Hey OP, obviously it's not great but it's definitely not your fault, you have not failed them! If it helps, the article I read said children wouldn't come to harm over the amount that was present. Of course you should still get rid but hope it eases some panic for you

The box has been in our cupboard for months, no sand remaining in it but the whole thing could be contaminated. Kids have been taking it in and out using other bits this whole time. I'm going to wrap up the box in case needed further down the line. I'm shaking.

Thank you, if you have a link to the article it would be really helpful. What I see says it would take a decade to cause issues, a decade is nothing at all when DD used it when she was 3 😭

https://www.gov.uk/product-safety-alerts-reports-recalls/product-recall-hobbycraft-giant-box-of-craft-2601-0364

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jan/24/childrens-play-sand-hobbycraft-asbestos-removed-recall

I'll try to find it, although might've been a newspaper article I clicked on Facebook. It was from before hobby craft had acknowledged a problem, just talking about the mum who had it tested.

Having a look at the advice on how to dispose of it, it says that you can double bag the box and dispose of it in normal household waste which you normally aren't allowed to do with asbestos so I'm assuming that this is because the risk is so minimal.

https://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/giant-box-of-craft-sand-recall.html

It just all doesn't say very much.

-Bring it back to shop for a refund - sounds so trivial, a refund is the least of my worries if my children are at risk

• Dispose of it with gloves and a mask sounds in comparison very serious
• Then it mentions 'small quantities' which sounds a lot compared to 'traces' and with asbestos even a trace is enough to cause damage.

Then some unverified sources saying that unless sand was crushed no fibres would have been released - I really hope so but doesn't seem definite.

I couldn't find the article but I did find these. There was a recall in Australia last year too

I also wonder if the fact I have the matching product code means there was definitely asbestos in ours? Or was the exact same product code used over that 10 year period which may reduce the odds slightly?

I guess noone knows and unfortunately when my anxious brain doesn't know it fills the gaps with worst case scenarios.

Thank you, that is indeed reassuring. I understand hobbycraft is doing some independent testing so hopefully further down the line there will be more clarity.

I don't even know how Hobbycraft had my email address, I kind of wish they hadn't and I had been none the wiser, since there is nothing I can do about it 😥

The amount of asbestos will be miniscule. There's trace amounts of asbestos in the air we breathe. So you're overreacting but I can understand why.

The risk from asbestos is in inhaling the fibres, and is dose-related, so the risk increases with the frequency of exposure. Almost all cases of asbestosis and mesothelioma (the cancer caused by asbestos) occur in people who worked with it for long durations before the risks were fully understood. I’m a doctor and a mother, and I wouldn’t lose a minute’s sleep over this; it’s a very very low risk. Just throw it out.

When it is saying crushing, it isn’t suggesting your child squashing it in their hands in a way children play, it’s implying properly crushing with a hammer or machinery. It’s also small quantities of a small amount, very different if it was a beach full of sand. If it was terrifyingly dangerous amounts they would arrange proper collection and disposal.

Yes thank you I was quoting this as one of the more reassuring things I had read as we certainly didn't do any crushing, just light sprinkling!

Thanks everyone, feeling a bit more level headed about it now.

Unfortunately there is still asbestos being used in talc and makeup. Claires accessories had childrens make up with asbestos in it. You just cannot trust products blindly, but we are much better regulated in the UK than others.

We also have the same box and I've been absolutely floored by this. I cannot get it out of my mind. I don't think Hobbycraft are giving enough information - we need to know the amount etc. I also have health anxiety so understand how you feel.

I just can't relax in the house thinking that there could be fibres everywhere - Washing machine, carpets, kitchen etc. It is horrible

Try not to worry as the amounts are so tiny.

Those of us at school in the 70's & 80s will have been exposed to far higher amounts & for longer but the rate of problems is still negligible.

Children getting suntanned will carry a greater risk of cancer than the trace amounts of asbestos that they may not even have been exposed to in the play sand

Someone I know, her dad was down the mines decades ago, from about age 14-18. All his coworkers from then long ago died of mesiolthoma (spelling?).

The father is still alive & well at 88yo. HOW? you ask... he never smoked. Turns out that smoking magnifies the risk enormously. Like... who knew? Anyway, I don't think we even know if there actually is asbestos in the sand, do we? It's just one person raised alarm and not on certain evidence, and there's background levels we are all exposed to anyway.

Try not to worry. x

I’m also freaking out having got one opened box with the matching serial code, but missing sand tubes. I THINK I threw them out because I hate the kids playing with sand or glitter, but can’t be sure. Then I have some vials from an old set with no box to check against that I’m freaking out about and have chucked.

but do I need to chuck the things the vials were touching?? Do I need to clean everything? What with?

health anxiety is well and truly back. A handful of articles saying risk is minimal….but how minimal?

@Catsonskis @Newgirlandboy so sorry you are in the same situation. We had our kitchen redone a couple of years ago and I lost sleep for weeks after they drilled into a ceiling which was suspected asbestos. Can't believe it is happening again.

I relate so much, I have contamination OCD so I am literally imagining fibers floating around all over the house. I am trying to rationalise that it is just my OCC/anxiety talking but it is hard. Where do you even start, or end, with the cleaning?

I haven't touched the box tonight, couldn't face it. I will deal with it tomorrow when kids are out of the house. I was wondering if I find remaining sand in it, should I send it for testing? Or will it just make it worse? Did you guys just chuck yours?

I guess I'll then clean the cupboard out that it was in but there are lots of books and craft supplies in there. It could have gone on anything.

I actually specifically remember the pictures we made with the sand, we kept them displayed for ages as well, the kids had loved it. Such a tarnished memory now!

I just found in my photos the pictures we had made. We had used the blue and yellow sand so I suspect the others are still in the box (hopefully we didn't use all the bloody things...). It was in July 2025, I didn't think it was this recent so I feel it is even more likely to be the same batch as the one that was tested by that customer 😥

I'm the same. Do we throw out everything which was stored in the box touching the item we made? And we did it in the kitchen so it went everywhere and it was played with on different surfaces etc.

Our tubes of remaining sand are in the bin, but I had a look through the bin as I want to send mine off for testing. I might send the item we made for testing too.

Do we throw out everything? Or just wipe items which touched the sand?

I found a picture of my son on the floor with his head next to the artwork we'd made as he was so proud of it he wanted me to take a picture of it. His head was right next to it. They were also mixing it with paint and spreading it with their fingers, I mean it just went everywhere.

Do you know when you bought your box?

With cleaning I think I'll throw out the box with all its contents (we'd used most of it anyway), keeping sand for testing and maybe hoover out the cupboard. I'll try and stop there as I know with anxiety the more you do the more it will feed it.

I'll let you know if I manage to successfully stop myself going totally neurotic. I am so busy this week with work and renovation in the house too, I had no spare mental capacity and now this... nightmare.