A remarkable find tens of meters from the parking lot of the Duin en Kruidberg nature reserve near Santpoort-Noord: an old garbage dump has come to the surface here. NH nature reporter Stephan Roest discovered the site and found corrugated iron parts that he suspected contained asbestos. NH Nieuws has now had the corrugated iron pieces examined.
Stephan came across a place with all kinds of old waste, right next to the entrance to the nature reserve. Besides old packaging and crumbling crockery, he came across pieces of corrugated iron. Stephan then collected five particles of corrugated sheet.
The results of the lab show that a percentage of asbestos was found in four of the five samples. It concerns 10-15% white asbestos, chrysotile.
According to the GGD, this tightly bound form of asbestos is not dangerous as long as it is not damaged. “Most people don’t get sick from this. The chance of getting cancer only increases if you have inhaled a lot of asbestos for months or years. That used to happen in certain professions, for example with shipbuilders and garage mechanics. It almost never happens anymore that people inhale a lot of asbestos for a long time.”
Text continues below the photos.
Jowien van der Vegte is a forester in Duin en Kruidberg. She is surprised with the find even though this is not the first time. “Asbestos is of course a dangerous substance. People probably didn’t know much about asbestos at the time it was dumped. We’ve had it before in other places in the area. It needs to be cleaned up.”
According to the forester, the waste heap has come to the surface due to nature. “In this case, it’s probably trash from the days when this was a private property, so that’s a long time ago. Animals walking over it or the wind blowing over it can bring it to the surface.”
Watch an interview with the ranger here:
Forest ranger responds to Duin and Kruidberg asbestos found – NH Nieuws
Margriet van Herk is a teacher at the Free School Haarlem and often goes into the woods with her students. She is shocked by the found garbage place. “I think it’s pretty bad. We walk through the woods with our classes every week. Children are there playing and picking up everything from the ground.”
The piece of forest where the waste is located has not yet been deposited by Natuurmonumenten. “Fortunately, it is a bit off the path. If all goes well, no people will normally come there,” says van der Vegte.
Van Herk disagrees with the forester. “I think it’s crazy that it could be there. The children collected chestnuts close by.”
Forest ranger van der Vegte cannot yet say when the waste site will be cleaned up. “I don’t know that yet. We first look at whether the situation is dangerous. If it is not, then there is less of a hurry to clean up. If it is dangerous, it has to be done faster.”
Margriet van Herk believes that Natuurmonumenten should take responsibility quickly. “This just needs to be cleaned up, cleaned up. It is an accessible area where children and dogs can just sniff. Even if it doesn’t pose an immediate danger, it doesn’t seem healthy to me either.”