Kerry Wynn-Taylor is on borrowed time, living with a "ticking time-bomb".

So, she's making the most of her precious days.

The retired primary school teacher is backing a national push to safely dispose of more than six million tonnes of ageing asbestos — the equivalent of 100 times the weight of the Sydney Harbour Bridge — from buildings across the country.

"I just wish that people would take asbestos dangers really seriously," she said.

"They don't. They're very flippant.

"We can't keep passing it onto the next generation."

'The elephant in the room'

Four years ago, Ms Wynn-Taylor, was working full-time as a teacher, but had a persistent cough and was becoming increasingly tired and breathless.

Two doctors put it down to her asthma and mature age.

But a third GP ordered a chest x-ray.

"They found I had five litres of fluid in my chest, which was crushing my left lung," she said.

Then came the shock diagnosis.

It was the incurable asbestos cancer, mesothelioma.

She was told she had just months to live. A year at the most.

She's outlived her life expectancy, but has been through some tough times, trying to manage the symptoms and the anxiety between six-monthly CT scans.

She is summoning all her strength to warn others about what she calls "the elephant in the room" – the deteriorating asbestos which can be found in one in three Australian homes.

Ms Wynn-Taylor wants to help stem the tide of deaths related to the deadly material.

"I don't want to see anybody end up with what I'm having to live with," she said.

Thousands of deaths

Although the numbers had been expected to drop, about 4000 people still die each year in Australia from asbestos-related diseases, including mesothelioma, asbestosis and asbestos-related lung cancer.

That's about three times the national road toll.

Asbestos-related diseases account for the highest number of work-related deaths, but exposure outside of the workplace is also a concern.

The Asbestos Diseases Society's Melita Markey has witnessed an increase of cases among people who've been renovating old homes, without bringing in licensed asbestos removalists.

Ms Markey said most worrying was the recent diagnosis of two Australian teenagers with mesothelioma, with the cause of exposure unknown.

"We never thought these diseases would leave the occupational community, but now it's gone to the non-occupational community," she said.

"It's really wise to get someone in, if you've got a particularly old home and just have a look around and give you a report.

While asbestos was banned in Australia in 2003, the products remain in everything from roofing and eaves to wall panels and carpet underlay.

According to the latest phase of an Asbestos National strategic plan (2024-2030), there's an increasing threat of exposure because these products are now breaking down, with the growing frequency of extreme weather events adding another layer of risk of airborne fibres.

The federal agency behind the plan is advocating for the proactive safe removal of asbestos from buildings by 2068 which, according to its modelling, would prevent about 27,400 thousand deaths.

Symptoms hide for decades

Most mesothelioma cases take decades to develop, with the average time between exposure and the onset of symptoms between 20 and 40 years.

Ms Wynn-Taylor believes her exposure to asbestos happened over 50 years ago when she was the eldest of her siblings growing up in suburban Perth, helping her father, who was a builder, tidy up the worksite.

"I remember him vividly using his boot to smash sheets and things so they were in smaller pieces for me to pick up and put in the trailer," she recalls.

"Broken asbestos was just absolutely everywhere."

She's still haunted by the deadly mineral, as there's a damaged asbestos fence in her backyard that she can't afford to have removed and replaced.

Not wanting to have family or friends visit, she's selling up and moving house.

Average removal $10k

Ms Markey's father Robert Vojakovic worked at the infamous Wittenoom blue asbestos mine in Western Australia and fought for workers struck down by disease.

Now taking on the fight, Ms Markey is backing a push for incentives to help people safely remove asbestos from their homes. 

She takes the ABC to a house in the affluent Perth suburb of Dalkeith where a homeowner has hired contractors to remediate a deteriorating asbestos fence to make it safe, ahead of removal.

But she's worried about the situation for families who can't afford the high costs involved.

According to a recent report, the average cost was around $10,000 for household asbestos removal.

"You're going to find that people who can afford to remove it, will be able to do it in a safe manner," she said.

"And people who can't will either be stuck living next to a deteriorating fence or putting up with sub-standard conditions."

Some states are already actively removing asbestos, says Jodie Deakes, the CEO of the Asbestos and Silica Safety and Eradication Agency which is overseeing the national strategy.

But she says what's needed is a nationwide approach.

"It's not that jurisdictions aren't doing it and aren't committed to it," Ms Deakes said.

"It's more that we need a proactive approach to it across the whole country to be able to hit those targets and save those lives."

For homeowners, this could mean tax incentives, interest free loans and subsidies.

Ms Deakes said the agency was consulting with the states on incentives, with new research into the options being released later in the year.

Concerns over waste disposal

The waste and recycling sector is also on board.

"What it really needs is government to get serious about it," CEO of the Waste Management Resource Recovery Association of Australia Gayle Sloan said.

She said some states already offer incentives and waive disposal fees, but what's really needed is a clear pathway across Australia.

"There really needs to be an approach of sharing the cost across the householder, the government and industry to make sure that no-one is unfairly burdened, because it's not a product that necessarily anyone wants," she said.

Where should the waste go?

It's not just how the asbestos is removed, but where it ends up that is presenting challenges.

There are currently about 280 facilities across the country licensed to take the waste.

There's big community opposition to a plan to bury up to 200,000 tonnes of asbestos waste a year at a site near homes and schools in Mirrabooka, about 10 kilometres north of the Perth CBD.

Local resident, Nick Geracitano, says he's worried about the impact of toxic air pollution, including dust and fibres.

"It's people's health we're talking about," the 70-year-old said.

Another resident, James Selleck, has been delivering flyers to homes in a multi-cultural suburb bordering the site.

"Speaking to a lot of people on Saturday, there were quite a large portion of them just were completely unaware of what was happening," he said.

Brajkovich Landfill & Recycling Ltd, the company behind the proposal, did not respond to the ABC's requests for an interview.

The WA government said while an earlier proposal for a solid waste depot at the site had been approved,  the application to bury asbestos waste was still being assessed by environmental authorities.

Ms Sloan said whether a disposal site is determined acceptable or not may come down to whether the material can be safely managed under the law.

"Wherever asbestos goes for disposal, it needs to be lawfully managed. It needs to be enclosed," she said.

"It needs to follow the rules to make sure it's safe for not only the adjacent premises but the workers at those facilities."

But Ms Wynn-Taylor urges the community to keep fighting against the proposed dump.

"What I've been told is that it's basically a hole in the ground, wrap the stuff up, bury it and she'll be apples," she said.

"We live in a country where we have a lot of open space.

"So why can't we have a dedicated site?

"Put it away from residential areas."