Joint landfill gets go-ahead
A plan for Nelson and Tasman councils to jointly operate the region’s landfills has been given the green light by the Commerce Commission.
The Nelson city and Tasman district councils last year asked for Commerce Commission authorisation to establish a Regional Landfill Business Unit to manage and operate the York Valley site at Bishopdale and the Eves Valley landfill at Waimea West.
The commission granted authorisation for the plan, subject to conditions, this week.
Commission chairman Dr Mark Berry said that the proposed business unit would remove the existing competition between the two landfills.
‘‘By imposing conditions to ensure that any surpluses generated will only be used to fund the councils’ respective waste related activities, we are satisfied that any reduction in competition is likely to be outweighed by the public benefits,’’ he said.
‘‘The conditions remove the incentive of the councils to exercise market power created as a result of the proposed arrangement while allowing them the flexibility and discretion to adjust their pricing in response to changes in demand and costs, such as costs associated with the Government’s Emissions Trading Scheme and the national waste levy.’’
Each council would continue to own its respective landfill under the arrangement.
However, the Eves Valley landfill would be closed from July, with all rubbish in the region being sent to the York Valley landfill.
The York Valley landfill would be used until it reaches capacity, expected to be sometime after 2030.
The two councils will share the costs of re-developing the Eves Valley landfill, which will be reopened once York Valley has closed.
The councils would, however, retain oversight of landfill fees through the approval of annual plans.
The ownership and authorisation of the councils’ transfer stations and resource recovery centres will be unaffected by the proposed arrangement.
The councils agreed on the joint management and operation plan in March last year.
The Tasman District Council agreed to pay $4.2 million to Nelson City Council to compensate for the difference in values between the city’s York Valley site and Eves Valley.
At the time, Tasman District mayor Richard Kempthorne said a joint landfill would provide efficiencies for both communities. ‘‘Financially, we’ll be much better off to do this than not do it.’’