A FORMER northwestern NSW council worker claims he was asked to cover up dumped asbestos with green waste and garbage.
Mark Sankey said he worked at landfill sites for Gwydir Shire Council from 2008 until March this year.
On numerous occasions he alleges he was asked to cover dumped asbestos with garbage, green waste, push it into walls and sometimes burn it.
"When I was first in that job I was exposed to asbestos many, many times," he told AAP on Wednesday.
"They would ask me to just push the asbestos under the garbage so people couldn't see it."
He said only two landfills in the shire were locked, allowing dumping to occur overnight.
It was only after he began receiving training on how asbestos was to be properly disposed of that he began questioning the requests.
"When I asked questions they threatened me with my job."
In March, Mr Sankey said he was made redundant after being told his skills were no longer required.
Gwydir Shire Council was not immediately available to comment on Mr Sankey's claims, which come after the Asbestos Diseases Foundation of Australia (ADFA) accused the council of unsafe work practices and illegal dumping, which is potentially putting the residents at risk.
ADFA president Barry Robson said worried Warialda locals had reported council workers cutting asbestos cement pipes in a residential street without safety equipment or warnings.
He also said there were reports asbestos was being illegally dumped or "simply being tossed over the fence of local tips".
But Gwydir Shire Mayor John Coulton dismissed the reports as "unfair and misleading", saying safety concerns had been fully investigated.
"The council is confident that no staff member or member of the public has been endangered during the water pipe replacement program in Warialda," he said in a statement.
He also rubbished allegations workers in the small town were told to misclassify asbestos waste to minimise disposal costs.
WorkCover NSW and the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) have both confirmed they were looking into the claims.
The EPA said it received a report from Gwydir Shire Council on September 19 saying the council had inadvertently deposited about 10 cubic metres of soil with bonded asbestos pipe on council-owned lands at Warialda.
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