Deal delivers Taranaki waste to Marton landfill
Taranaki’s waste will be dumped at a landfill near Marton from 2019 after a joint council decision was made to mothball the multi-million dollar central landfill project at Eltham.
The decision to send the region’s waste to the privately-owned Bonny Glen facility is expected to save Taranaki ratepayers $25 million over the next 35 years, a statement from the New Plymouth, Stratford and South Taranaki District Council said.
It is expected to save New Plymouth District Council $11.83m, Stratford District Council up to $2.6m and South Taranaki District Council $11.56m.
The deal brings an end to construction of the regional landfill project at Eltham that was being built to take the region’s waste when the existing Colson Rd landfill wound down next year.
The completed landfill had been budgeted to cost $42.9m, and the three councils have already spent $7.5m on developing the facility, including $4.96m from NPDC.
The smaller facility will now be maintained to ensure the continuity of resource consents and be land banked for future use if required.
In the joint council statement, the offer to contract out waste disposal to Bonny Glen owners, Midwest Disposals Ltd, was described as ‘‘too good to ignore’’.
‘‘After careful consideration and a detailed feasibility study, the Stratford, South Taranaki and New Plymouth District Councils have agreed to suspend further development of the Central Landfill near Eltham,’’ the statement said.
‘‘The latest offer was too good to ignore and enables the councils to focus on becoming a zero waste region without raising the residential waste disposal costs, as no minimum tonnage is required and we only pay for what we send.
‘‘The 35-year agreement saves money, reduces risk, delivers longterm certainty and provides real incentive to minimise waste.’’
The agreement allowed the three councils to exit at any stage if they are unhappy with the arrangement.
Waste from the region will be trucked to Bonny Glen from mid2019, around the same time as the Colson Rd landfill in New Plymouth is due to wind down.
It is expected three trucks a day will make the trip to the landfill but that number should decrease as the districts work to reduce waste.
New Plymouth District Council mayor Neil Holdom said the decision would deliver long-term value for ratepayers in the region.
‘‘The focus is now reducing waste and hitting our zero waste target by 2040, and get resource consent extension for the central landfill from the regional council.’’
The more the community got behind council’s ‘‘reduce, reuse and recycle’’ message, the more money can be saved, he said.
NPDC councillor Richard Handley, a zero waste advocate, said the decision had been very close.
‘‘It was set off by deciding between using trucks, and the extra mileage and the environmental impact, and the clear benefit of having no set tonnage limits at Bonny Glen,’’ he said.
‘‘So it is a great incentive to drive zero waste from here, and this was the crucial point,’’ he said.
‘‘The decision also meant trucking rubbish out of the region, which many did not want to do.’’
‘‘There was also risk in maintaining the Eltham landfill, but it gives the ability for the facility to be used in future if anything goes wrong with the contract,’’ he said.
The Bonny Glen landfill takes rubbish from Rangitikei, Manawatu¯ , Palmerston North and Wairarapa.
Operator Midwest Disposals is jointly owned by Waste Management NZ Ltd, which is owned by Beijing Capital Group Co. Ltd, and Envirowaste Ltd, which is owned by Hong Kong-based CK Hutchinson Holdings Ltd.