VegeSafe

VegeSafe is a community science participation program run by Environmental Science staff at Macquarie University. We are the only service of this kind in Australia!

We seek to inform the community about metal and metalloid contaminants in their garden soil through our soil metal testing program. Participants receive a formal report with their soil results and are provided with links to information and advice about "what to do next" in the event of soils containing elevated concentrations of metals and metalloids. We accept soil from all Australian states and territories. We do not accept soils from overseas due to Australian quarantine regulations.

The principal staff involved are Professor Mark P. Taylor, PhD Researchers Marek Rouillon and Paul Harvey and Research Assistants Steve George and Phoebe Peterson.

For almost 4 years VegeSafe has been operating as a pro bono service to all Australians. In order to keep the program running and accessible to all, participation in the VegeSafe soil metal testing program now incurs a fee of $20. This small fee covers the time involved, and costs of soil analysis and laboratory consumables. Please note: this fee covers up to five samples submitted, it is not $20 per sample.

Please see - How to participate for more detail.