EXCLUSIVE
The billionaire family behind the asbestos scare sweeping Sydney has denied all responsibility and told Daily Mail Australia they are being made scapegoats.
The Vitocco family of property developers, based in Bringelly, in Sydney’s southwest, operates the Greenlife Resource Recovery Center in the center of the storm.
The New South Wales government has named it as the alleged source of asbestos-contaminated mulch that has been spread on public land in several locations across the city, including parks at the new Rozelle Interchange in Sydney’s inner west.
Following that discovery, asbestos has now also been found in the topsoil of parks, a hospital and a school stretching from the CBD to Emu Plains at the foot of the Blue Mountains, and from Parramatta to Campbelltown.
The NSW Environment Protection Authority has set a deadline of February 16 for Greenlife to contact everyone it has supplied recycled mulch to begin the clean-up operation.
But Greenlife CEO Domenic Vitocco, son of billionaire boss Arnold Vitocco, 59, insists his company is not to blame.
“We feel like we’ve been made a scapegoat,” he told Daily Mail Australia. ‘We’re not quite sure how this happened.
The billionaire Vitocco family (pictured) behind the asbestos scare sweeping Sydney has denied all responsibility and told Daily Mail Australia they are being made scapegoats.
Asbestos has also been found in the topsoil of parks, a hospital and a school stretching from the CBD to Emu Plains at the foot of the Blue Mountains, and from Parramatta to Campbelltown.
The Vitocco family of property developers, based in Bringelly in Sydney’s southwest, operates the Greenlife Resource Recovery Fund in the center of the storm.
‘All EPA tests have come back clean from our backyard. Our tests have come back clear and we are a little baffled as to how this is all happening.
“During the investigation, I can’t really say too much, but what I do know is that several of these sites are important remediation sites… but I can’t comment further.”
Greenlife is a subsidiary of Vitocco Enterprises, created by CEO Arnold Vitocco, who is estimated to be worth $1 billion on the latest AFR Rich List, and has members of his family in key positions in the company.
His wife Irene is a director and responsible for business strategy, focusing on the family empire’s “food and beverage sector and core retail real estate assets.”
His son Anthony Vitocco is operations manager and plays a key role in “pricing and income strategies” across Vitocco’s property portfolio.
And as well as running Greenlife, eldest son Domenic is responsible for the family’s financial analysis to “support sustainable business growth”.
The company website adds: “Domenic is particularly interested in emerging opportunities in the waste management and energy sectors.”
Greenlife was set up almost six years ago to recycle waste in collaboration with the earthmoving company’s former boss, Adrian Runko.
The Greenlife resource recovery facility in Bringelly opened in 2022 to collect waste from various sources and turn it into “sustainable supplies for the landscape,” according to its website.
It offers mulch and a “custom landscaping soil mix made from our recycled garden materials and composted organic compounds that are widely used in the landscaping trade.”
“Greenlife’s resource recovery facility offers quality products using sustainable recycling options to improve our future,” he adds.
“Our team will find a way… All products are tested to meet Australian standards and can be delivered within the Sydney region.”
Greenlife is a subsidiary of Vitocco Enterprises, created by CEO Arnold Vitocco (pictured right, with his father Domenic, left, and sons Anthony and Domenic)
The Greenlife resource recovery facility in Bringelly opened in 2022 to collect waste from various sources and turn it into “sustainable supplies for the landscape,” according to its website.
It offers mulch and a “custom landscaping soil mix made from our recycled garden materials and composted organic compounds that are widely used in the landscaping trade.”
The Vitocco family made their fortune building houses and housing estates in Sydney’s south-west.
A five-acre land development near a crossroads at Narellan, near Campbelltown, in 1989 turned a village into a thriving town center now valued at nearly $1 billion.
Arnold Vitocco’s parents, concrete Domenic and his wife Maria, arrived in Sydney from Italy in 1956 before his father laid the foundations of the family empire and founded his own construction company.
D. Vitocco Constructions built around 2,000 apartments in Liverpool in the 1980s before Arnold took over and took it to the next level.
He and his wife Irene diversified the business into new areas of land development and retail, as well as the more recent move into recycling with Greenlife.
Now the family is partnering to build 7,000-lot developments on 1,800-acre parcels, but still with a focus on the Southwest, with projects in Gregory Hills, Maryland, Central Hills, Elyard Street and Emerald Hills.
“Vitocco Enterprises is committed to taking an open and honest approach in all its business relationships,” the company states about its values on its website.
‘Many of the companies that are part of Vitocco Enterprises involve long-term partnerships with other families.
“The company values loyalty above all and returns it in its business relationships.”
He says the company “dedicates a lot of time and resources” to charities and does everything it can to boost local businesses.
The Vitocco family has partnered to build thousands of homes in developments in Gregory Hills, Maryland, Central Hills, Elyard Street and Emerald Hills in Sydney’s south-west.
A five-acre site near a crossroads at Narellan, near Campbelltown, in 1989 turned a village into a thriving urban center now valued at nearly $1 billion.
Greenlife has now filed a legal challenge against the EPA’s decision to ban it from selling more mulch while investigations continue.
He adds: ‘We work closely with local suppliers to ensure the western Sydney economy is supported.
‘A long-term investment approach is adopted and conservative values are combined with an innovative and entrepreneurial spirit.
“There is a strong emphasis on maintaining the excellent reputation earned over many years in the business.”
Greenlife has now filed a legal challenge against the EPA’s decision to ban it from selling more mulch while investigations continue.
Most of the asbestos found so far has been bonded asbestos, which poses a lower risk, but on Monday the more dangerous friable asbestos was discovered at Harmony Park in Surry Hills.
The pollution has forced the cancellation of Mardi Gras celebrations planned for this week in the park.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns vowed to pursue those responsible following the latest discovery and said Greenlife was in his sights.
NSW Premier Chris Minns (pictured) vowed to pursue those responsible after the latest discovery and said Greenlife was in his sights.
He insisted that the government was “not aware of any other corporation or firm that may have been responsible for the distribution.”
“It is reasonable to say that the company is fighting the suggestion that they are responsible for pollution within public facilities and parks,” he said.
‘That particular type of (friable) asbestos, not agglomerated asbestos, found in a Sydney park is deeply concerning… This is completely unacceptable.
‘(We need to) ensure that enforcement action is taken against companies that (allegedly) do the wrong thing.
‘We cannot have a situation where major public facilities like… schools and parks have asbestos. The government is ready to act.”