Basically Macquarie University and the EPA are partnering in citizen science programs to receive soil and dust samples for testing. This is to provide them with data around contamination from lead and other metals, and in return you receive a report about the safety of your soil/household dust and what to do if the levels are unsafe.
VegeSafe through the Environmental Science staff at Macquarie University is open to all Australians and they request a donation starting at $20. Victorians are encouraged to use GardenSafe.
GardenSafe through the EPA is geared at Victorians, apparently has some extras and is free other than the postage to submit soil samples.
DustSafe tests household dust. They have testing facilities in England, Australia and USA, and ask for a donation starting at $20.
That top link again, to see all three programs and submit samples
Edit: Soil contamination also affects backyard chickens and their eggs.
I did VegeSafe last year after reading an article about the potential for lead concentrating in homegrown eggs and veggies. Our house (and neighbourhood ) date from the era of lead bring in paint and petrol, so I wanted to check.
Thankfully the only area of this yard that came back as a red flag was the dripline (i.e. next to the house), so we should be okay as long as we grow our food away from the building.
I haven’t done mine as I’ve been growing in little containers.
A map I saw which I can’t seem to find again suggested my spot might be low risk, however I was between points of low and high contamination. Also back when I was more capable of digging over what soil is there I found discarded chunks of concrete and building materials buried in a lazy disposal by the builders.
So that’s a concern. I’m now wondering if I should have let the cat eat grass from there
This is really useful post. Thank you.
No worries. Someone mentioned soil testing to me ages ago but I didn’t look into it again until I saw people encouraged to get into subsistence gardening. Thought it might be good to spread the info
I did the GardenSafe one earlier this year. It also gives you a report on the composition of your soil, which confirmed my own soil analysis I did in the gardening course I am doing which was nice. Also confirmed no contaminants to be concerned about which is nice to know.
I considered doing it here but between all the challenges in such tiny patches of earth it might not be worth the effort
