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The potentially-deadly material was found by contractors who were relocating waste from the old Echuca landfill site — on Department of Sustainability and Environment land off Echuca-Kyabram Rd — into another section of the now-unused site.

Contractors took about five days to remove the asbestos and finished yesterday.

Monitoring was under way to ensure no fibres were in the air.

Campaspe Shire project manager Scott Flanagan said the asbestos posed no danger to the public.

He said it was found above and below ground level, but could not confirm how long it had been there or who had dumped it.

The Echuca landfill operated for about 30 years. It closed in 2001 after it reached its capacity for receiving waste, but continued to operate as a temporary transfer station until February 2010.

Mr Flanagan said more than 100,000 cubic metres of waste at the site would have been transferred to the correct boundaries when the project, which began in January last year, was completed mid this year.

The four-stage rehabilitation project, approved by the Environment Protection Authority, involves the construction of an impermeable 600mm thick clay cap, with a protective sub-soil layer 200mm thick and vegetated top soil 100mm thick to ensure leftover waste does not contaminate the surrounding environment.

The entire project has been forecast to cost $2.2million.