Tirohia landfill expansion bid declined by commissioners

Independent commissioners have declined an application by Waste Management NZ Ltd to expand its landfill operation in Tirohia. The company had applied to Hauraki District Council and Waikato Regional Council for resource consent to extend the area of operations at their site between Paeroa and Te Aroha. The decision is subject to a 15-working-day appeal period.

Hauraki District Mayor Toby Adams said he is glad to see the process moving forward.

“Now the applicant and submitters have the commissioners’ decision, they can take a good look through the report and then decide if they wish to appeal the whole, or part, of the decision to the environment court. This will determine the timing for any possible mediation or appeal hearing. So, at this stage, this is a formal legal process. We need to wait and see what happens during the appeal period,” he says.

Waste Management’s application to the two councils was for resource consent, including land use, and discharge and water permits, to allow construction and operation of a landfill site, known as Tirohia Landfill Phase C. The footprint of the proposed site is about 15ha, with a capacity for about 3 million cubic metres of municipal solid waste, and ancillary facilities.the giant Tirohia landfill site operated by Waste Management takes up a large chunk of a mountain that is sacred to the tangata whenua of the area.

On the site of the former HG Leach quarry, founded by Hauraki Plains dredge operator Harry Leach, Tirohia is a little place with great importance. Well before its use by Europeans, it was a place for Ngati Hako iwi who lived, worked the land and navigated the river using rocks in the hillsides as waypoints.

Nga¯ti Hako are mana whenua for the Tirohia site and are opposed to waste placement within the land.

Archaeology includes evidence of urupa (burial grounds) and horticultural sites.