Asbestos removal in Leongatha, Korumburra and South Gippsland
South Gippsland is dairy hills and small towns that grew with them, which means super six dairies and fibro cottages from the 1940s onward. Koonwarra Landfill takes domestic asbestos from homeowners; a removalist's load goes elsewhere. A licensed local, when you engage one, measures up in person and handles both the job and the paperwork.
All asbestos removal work is carried out by WorkSafe-licensed removalists.
The housing and farm buildings you'll find here
Leongatha, Korumburra, Mirboo North, Foster and Toora have older streets of weatherboard and fibro cottages with the usual eaves, wet-area linings and shed roofs, alongside newer housing where none of it applies. The farms around them are where the big loads are: dairies, calf sheds, hay sheds and machinery sheds roofed and walled in asbestos cement, many still working. Coastal Sandy Point, Waratah Bay and Port Welshpool have fibro holiday houses like Bass Coast's.
Disposal in South Gippsland
Domestic asbestos from a homeowner can be taken to Koonwarra Landfill, Monday to Friday 8 to 4, wrapped and labelled to the council's standard: ring first. If a licensed removalist did the removal, or the material came from a farm or any non-residential property, it's classed as commercial asbestos and Koonwarra will not accept it. Commercial loads go to an EPA-licensed facility, which the removalist arranges and includes in the quote.
Asbestos removal Leongatha and Korumburra: how a licensed job runs
- Send photos through the form, and we keep your job on file and your details with us.
If you engage a licensed removalist:
- Written quote with the licence class, WorkSafe notification, disposal destination and clearance.
- WorkSafe is notified before the job starts: at least five days ahead for friable material or more than 10 square metres of bonded sheeting, at least 24 hours ahead for a smaller bonded job.
- Wet, whole, wrapped, loaded once. On a dairy, staged around milking.
- A clearance certificate from an independent person where the job needs one, then the roofer, fencer or builder.
Common South Gippsland jobs
- Dairy roofs and walls at scale. See farm and commercial.
- Fibro cottage renovations and demolitions in the town centres.
- Shed and garage roofs on the larger town blocks. See sheds and garages.
- Holiday houses on the coast being made permanent.
- Storm damage in the hills.
Getting the site ready
Clear a run to the road, empty the shed the day before, and keep stock and dogs away. On a dairy the crew will stage the roof around milking; tell them about power lines over the shed and whether the track takes a truck after a wet week in the hills. For a coastal weekender at Sandy Point or Waratah Bay, arrange a key and make sure the water is on.
What a proper quote includes here
Area measured, licence class named, WorkSafe notification, disposal destination, and the clearance. Farm loads can't go to Koonwarra, so the quote for a dairy should name the EPA-licensed facility. A quote that separates bonded and friable material, and says which class covers each, is a quote from someone who's done it before.
Koonwarra: the address, the fee and who can use it
Koonwarra Landfill is at 275 Koonwarra-Inverloch Road, reached through the Koonwarra Transfer Station, open weekdays and closed Saturday, Sunday, Christmas Day and Good Friday: ring first. Fees from 1 July 2026: $114 minimum for up to 500 kilograms, then $228 a tonne, domestic sources only. Council's line is 5662 9200.
Domestic means asbestos a homeowner transports. A householder can drive their own wrapped load to an authorised landfill without an EPA transport permit; that's the EPA's own guidance. Wrap it double in 0.2 millimetre plastic, tape and label it, keep it wet until it's packaged. A couple of eave sheets from a Leongatha house is a legitimate ute trip. A dairy roof isn't, twice over: commercial by origin, and a removalist's truck makes it commercial by transport as well.
Mirboo North 2024, and the streets built in the wrong decade
On 13 February 2024 a storm cut through Mirboo North and tens of houses had their roofs torn off. The clean-up, funded jointly by the Commonwealth and the state, included demolition of damaged houses and removal of asbestos and other hazards, and it's complete. The lesson for next time: when a roof comes off a 1960s house the fibro eaves and ceiling linings come with it, broken, across your yard and the neighbour's. If the material is broken, burnt or storm-damaged and you need someone today, WorkSafe Victoria's directory lists licensed removalists who can help straight away. Find one. Photos, insurer, then a licensed removalist to quote on the debris and the structure together, and nobody with a rake in the meantime.
The towns grew modestly and at the wrong time. Korumburra's post-war shortage was fixed by the Housing Commission building more than a hundred houses, taking it from 2,414 people in 1947 to 3,237 in 1961. Leongatha had a minor building boom in the 1950s and 60s, from 2,304 people in 1954 to 3,957 by 1986, when cement sheet was the cheap option. Sandy Point is the coastal version: freehold to Playground Estates in November 1957, 155 blocks first offered at 125 to 195 pounds, most of the building in the 1980s, 632 houses by 2005 and one in ten occupied on the 2011 census night.
Questions people ask about this
Is a removalist available yet for Foster, Toora and Welshpool?
Register your job and it goes on file for the South Gippsland shire. The drive is still worth naming; it's part of any removalist's minimum call-out.
Can I take farm shed sheets to Koonwarra?
No. Farm material is commercial waste and Koonwarra only accepts domestic asbestos from homeowners. The removalist arranges the licensed facility.
What does a shed job cost out here?
The same published 2026 guide figures: bonded material at $50 to $150 a square metre with a minimum around $800 to $2,000, and Melbourne figures don't carry the travel out here. See the cost guide.
The dairy has a farmhand. Does that change how the shed is handled?
Yes. A farm with an employee is a workplace, so the OHS Regulations bind the job. Only a job under 10 square metres and an hour a week can be done unlicensed there; a roof is well over that, so expect licensed removal, a control plan, WorkSafe notification, and a clearance. The waste is commercial and can't go to Koonwarra. Stage it around milking.
The storm took sheets off the shed at Mirboo North. Can I pick them up?
Leave them. Broken cement sheet is the form that releases fibres, and dry handling is how it spreads. Photograph it, keep people and stock away, and ring the insurer. That's urgent: if the material is broken, burnt or storm-damaged and you need someone today, WorkSafe Victoria's directory of licensed removalists can help straight away.
My Sandy Point weekender is from the early 1980s. Would it have asbestos?
Possibly. Built or renovated before 1990, assume it may contain asbestos; the national ban took effect on 31 December 2003, and Sandy Point's big building years were the 1980s. Test before renovating.
Sources checked: October 2026
Where these facts come from
- Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017 (Vic)
- WorkSafe Victoria: Asbestos removal notification
- asbestos.vic.gov.au: Building, renovation and maintenance
- Asbestos and Silica Safety and Eradication Agency: Householders and home renovators
- EPA Victoria: Asbestos transport and disposal guideline (IWRG611.2)
- South Gippsland Shire Council: Asbestos
- South Gippsland Shire Council: Koonwarra Landfill
- South Gippsland Shire Council: Koonwarra Landfill accepted materials and disposal fees
Price ranges from published guides
Call, or send photos.
Your job and photos stay on file with us.
The guides cover cost, tip rules and the DIY rules.