Levin landfill problems get up people’s noses

Horowhenua District Council may be asked to explain its plans for the future of Levin Landfill, as odour and leachate problems continue to bug people.

The council-run landfill has been a bone of contention between Levin residents and the district and regional councils for some time.

Smell has wafted over neighbouring properties, while leachate from the landfill soaks into the Hokio Stream.

Those problems have got up the noses of residents, local hapu¯ and iwi, and the Horizons Regional Council.

Horizons went as far as issuing the Horowhenua council an abatement notice in June 2017, ordering it to stop objectionable odour going beyond the landfill’s boundary.

But the landfill continues to operate, taking rubbish from both Horowhenua and Ka¯ piti Coast.

Horowhenua council’s waste minimisation plan, released in July, notes the landfill would be significantly more expensive to run without Ka¯ piti rubbish.

At Horizons’ environment committee yesterday, strategy and regulation group manager Nic Peet said monitoring odour from the landfill was difficult.

From July to December 2017 there were 40 complaints, with half by email well after the odour had occurred, he said.

Staff did go out when possible to check the air and recorded two cases of objectionable odour, he said.

There were no complaints between January and May, during which time a neighbour of the landfill moved. But there had been 12 complaints since June.

Staff visits to the landfill had found no evidence of objectionable odour. ‘‘That’s not saying [objectionable odour] did not occur,’’ Peet said.

However, the odour needed to be recorded by council staff if enforcement action was going to take place.

Multiple members of the committee, all Horizons councillors, said it could be a good idea to get Horowhenua council officials to talk to them about the future of the landfill and how it proposed to manage the odour.

Horizons natural resources and partnerships manager Jon Roygard said he would investigate making that happen.

Horowhenua-based councillor Lindsay Burnell said the landfill had not been a problem for six months, making him think Horowhenua council had sorted it out.