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The New South Wales environmental regulator has known for more than a decade that producers of soil fill made from construction and demolition waste were failing to comply with rules to limit the spread of contaminants such as lead and asbestos into the community.

Internal documents from the Environment Protection Authority (EPA), obtained by Guardian Australia, warned widespread breaches by industry meant potentially contaminated product might have been applied to land across the state, including at childcare centres, residential areas, schools and parks.

The potentially contaminated product, known as “recovered fines”, is a soil or sand substitute made from the processing of construction and demolition waste, including skip bin residue, after all large recyclable material has been removed.

In a follow-up investigation in 2019 the EPA reviewed about 50,000 pieces of testing and sampling data from 21 waste facilities and found 71% had exceeded the absolute maximum concentration limit for a chemical or physical contaminant at least once over a two-year period, with the most frequent breaches identified for metals, glass and rigid plastics, pH levels and lead.

A spokesperson for the EPA told Guardian Australia the human health and environmental risks associated with recovered fines were low because the products were “generally used in low-contact situations, such as engineering fill and pipe bedding”.

“Our work will be further guided later this year by a NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer report commissioned to provide advice on the management of asbestos in recovered fines, and CSIRO/EPA research currently underway on microplastics, chemically treated timbers and synthetic mineral fibres,” the spokesperson said.

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