The site of a Pacific Highway upgrade at Heron's Creek
PEOPLE in white protective suits have cropped up on the Herons Creek to Stills Road Pacific Highway upgrade site during the past few days, drawing the attention of drivers.
The workers, supervised by independent specialists, were removing about 400 cubic metres of contaminated material from an area of the site.
All of the soil was expected to be disposed of at the Cairncross Waste Management Facility by today after test results by the Roads and Maritime Services [RMS] met Environmental Protection
Authority standards, the Port Macquarie-Hastings Council approved disposal at the Telegraph Point facility.
Development and environmental services director, Matt Rogers, said the material presented no risk to the community or environment.
In April, the site made national headlines when five workers became sick after uncovering odorous clay on part of the area.
In 1980, a truck crashed, spilling its load of food, chemicals, including now banned pesticide DDT, and drums of radioactive material on the site.
While the drums were removed, food and other chemicals were buried.
Preliminary test results over the last few months cleared the majority of the construction zone and external sites including Herons Creek
Public School, which had received soil from the site.
All but one of the workers have returned to work and none are experiencing symptoms such as the earlier nausea, vomiting, headaches and itchy eyes.
An RMS spokeswoman said the most recent reports show a harmless food additive was buried after the crash and, although it was removed during the planning phase of the project, the residual breakdown caused fatty acids to evolve.