Ambitious waste processor would transform skyline
Ambitious waste project would offer bypass town a future by transforming its iconic skyline.
A giant waka-shaped factory may one day be a bold new feature on the Huntly skyline.
The northern Waikato town is known for its power station with its twin smokestack, and its well-loved Deka sign – but the proposed factory would have the added benefit of turning landfill waste into energy.
The $650 million plan is the brainchild of Neil Laurenson, a Cambridge-based conceptual designer with a strong interest in waste management.
Called ‘‘Kaitaki’’, the factory would process items that cannot be recycled, reused, composted or repaired and would work within what Laurenson described as ‘‘the circular economy’’ of waste.
That includes towns adopting a recycling system similar to Raglan’s successful Xtreme Zero Waste. At an individual level, he wants barcode scanners in every New Zealand home to help consumers identify which items were recyclable and which were not.
Laurenson said the plant would handle most of the country’s landfill waste and a large proportion from the Pacific Islands, and would create a lot of jobs in Huntly.
He approached Danish engineering company Ramboll, which builds waste to energy facilities and has drawn up a conceptual design of the factory that would be, in his opinion, ‘‘the world’s biggest waka’’.
Ramboll has built such facilities across Europe including one in Copenhagen equipped with an artificial ski slope on its roof.
Laurenson’s idea has won the backing of Waikato’s new economic development agency Te Waka, and he is working with the organisation to pitch the concept to the region’s mayors, iwi and business leaders. He hopes for a feasibility study co-funded by government and regional business.
Huntly Community Board chair Katrina Langlands did not want to comment until more details became available.
However, Dr Trisia Farrelly of the New Zealand Product Stewardship Council called it
‘‘a false solution’’ to New Zealand’s waste problem.
‘‘All you end up doing, as they do in Scandinavia, is ‘feed the beast’. The thing could only keep going as long as you feed it waste, so it perpetuates waste.’’
Waste incineration was extremely expensive, and Farrelly doubted funding would eventuate for a long-term investment, saying more investment was instead required for ‘‘prevention.’’