Asbestos-contaminated sand fears close dozens of schools in Australia

Playtime is canceled for 69 schools in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) on Monday morning thanks to a colorful but potentially risky batch of sand.

Kmart and Target issued product recalls Saturday after samples of a widely-used play sand were found to have traces of asbestos, forcing the schools to close, the state government said Sunday.

Inspections are underway and could “take days,” ACT Education Minister Yvette Berry in a post on Facebook, adding that testing so far had come back “negative to airborne asbestos” from all schools. People who have been in contact with the sand do not require a clinical assessment, health officials say.

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) said there was a low risk that the asbestos could become airborne or fine enough for inhalation.

The recall follows a similar sand scare last week, sparking fears the playground drama is far from over.

Several schools and preschools in the region were fully or partially closed on Friday after a warning over asbestos risks in children’s sand sold by Officeworks, before the further product recalls were issued.

“Unfortunately, these sand products are even more widely used in our schools than the Officeworks products,” said Berry, adding that State Emergency service volunteers and school staff spent their weekends walking through buildings and “mapping all coloured sand they see.”

The government is “required to eliminate risk as much as reasonably practicable,” she continued.

Exposure to asbestos, once widely used in building materials, is known to cause lung cancer, mesothelioma and other cancers, and it is linked to more than 40,000 deaths in the U.S. each year.

Australian law prohibits the import or export of asbestos or goods containing asbestos. The U.S.’ Environmental Protection Agency in 2024 announced a comprehensive ban on the mineral.