Play sand with asbestos: five years on shelves, 70 schools shut

Coloured craft and play sand sold in Australia and New Zealand for at least five years — tens of thousands of boxes through Officeworks, Kmart and more than 20 brands, used in hundreds of schools and childcare centres — was recalled from November 13, 2025 after tremolite asbestos was found in it.

For months, parents had been assured the risk was negligible unless the sand was pulverised — a claim resting on a supplier-commissioned assessment that regulators never independently tested. When Auckland University of Technology handled the sand as children do, 90% of samples released airborne asbestos; the ACCC amended the recall notices in July 2026 and retailers rewrote their safety wording.

More than 70 schools closed across the two countries in November 2025; South Australia alone counted 450 affected sites by the 19th. Compensation claims followed, and the border force now tests sand products as high risk before import.