In Australia, the impacts of urbanisation and human activity are evident in increased waste generation and the emissions of metals into the air, land or water. Metals that have accumulated in urban soils almost exclusively anthropogenically can persist for long periods in the environment. Anthropogenic waste emissions containing heavy metals are a significant exposure pathway for urban soils. The purpose of this paper is to present indicators of sustainability for assessing the environmental health risk from exposure of urban soils to anthropogenic waste emissions containing lead, copper, zinc and chromium. By benchmarking urban surface soil concentrations of these four metals against Australian and international Soil Standards, a data set of indicators of sustainability can be construed for evaluating the potential long-term environmental health risks posed by continued exposure of urban soils to heavy metals. [For full proceedings, see ED571459.]