A shipment of soil taken into a Melbourne primary school for landscaping was littered with asbestos fragments.

The Environment Protection Authority has launched an investigation into how fragments of old cement sheeting containing asbestos ended up in soil used in landscaping works at Syndal South Primary School in Mt Waverley.

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The EPA inspected the school on October 29 and took samples which tested positive to asbestos.

The department of education notified parents on Friday afternoon.
Visible fragments of the cement sheeting have been removed from the site and the area remains fenced off to students.

The remaining asbestos poses minimal risk if undisturbed, the EPA says.
The contaminated soil was sourced from a former industrial site and transported to the school by an independent contractor.