Fill material must not contain:

• domestic waste
• industrial waste such as concrete brick asphalt pipe plastics metal or wood
• organic matter
• category A B or C prescribed industrial waste or soil with contaminant levels above EPA ‘fill material’ thresholds.
• acid sulphate soil and rock
• asbestos or asbestos-contaminated soil.

Circumstances where fill will be accepted for use in council reserves

The acceptance of fill material within Council reserves will only be approved in cases where the material is free from contamination and has been appropriately sampled tested and classified as ‘Fill Material’ in accordance with the EPA Waste Categorisation and Soil Hazard Categorisation and Management Guidelines.

An assessment of soil including site history will determine whether the material has been potentially contaminated as a result of industrial commercial construction or agricultural activities or contaminated with manufactured chemicals; and/or where material has been placed as fill or has been mechanically disturbed.

Samples of the material should be taken in accordance with the EPA’s Soil Sampling Guidelines and submitted to an analytic laboratory accredited by the National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA).

Evidence inspection and acceptance procedures

Prior to transportation evidence that the material meets clean fill criteria including a copy of the site assessment and laboratory report will need to be provided to our Recreation and Open Space Unit for approval.

Prior to unloading fill material at the receiving site all loads must be subject to a visual inspection by a City representative.

Contaminated soil

Any soils suspected of contamination through visual inspection or assessed as contaminated by laboratory analysis must be disposed of at an appropriately licensed landfill facility and can not be used as fill material.

Topsoil

Fill material approved for use on Council land should be covered with topsoil to a depth of at least 100 millimetres prior to the establishment of landscaping works such as garden beds and/or tree planting.

This can be achieved by stripping back stockpiling and reinstating existing site top soils over the fill material and/or through the importation of topsoil for this purpose.

Imported top soils should be:

• compliant with Australian Standard AS4419.2003: Soils for Landscaping and Garden Use
• free from perennial weeds and their roots bulbs or rhizomes
• free from building rubble including bricks concrete plaster timber oil or any other matter deleterious to plant growth
• free from rocks or stones greater than 5mm diameter but in any case to have less than 5% stone by dry weight
• Ph to be between 6.0 and 7.0
• light to medium friable texture
• free from silt material
• non-hydrophobic.

The soil shall conform to the following sieve analysis:

Where imported topsoil is to be used three randomly selected samples shall be comprehensively laboratory tested to meet the above requirements.

Copies of laboratory certificates demonstrating the mix is in accordance with the above requirements including details of the soil source are to be provided to Council prior to spreading imported soil on site.

Need to know more...

For further information or to arrange an approval/inspection of fill or topsoil material please contact: