Councils plan compost plant
The three district councils of Taranaki are planning to build a composting facility to stop food scraps being trucked out of the region.
New Plymouth is the only district council that currently collects and disposes of food waste, but it is having to truck it
300 kilometres north to Hampton Downs.
This is because the Remediation New Zealand-run facility in Uruti that the council planned to use when it launched food scrap recycling in September
2019 does not have resource consents.
The company has applied for consent renewal and is expecting a decision later in the month.
However, following the consent hearing in April, New Plymouth District Council (NPDC) infrastructure manager David Langford announced council no longer supported the renewal.
It had previously given qualified support in its submission.
At the time, Langford said council had already taken steps to build a regional organic waste processing facility, earmarking $1.14 million in its draft long-term plan, which will be decided on by the end of June.
If signed off, around $560,000 is expected to be spent in 2022/23 and $580,000 in 2023/24.
While the NPDC is the only council collecting food scraps, Stratford District Council is proposing to establish a collection in three years’ time as part of its long-term plan (LTP).
South Taranaki District Council (STDC) does not collect organic waste, though homeowners in the district can buy a bin to be collected by Envirowaste.
New Plymouth councillor and zero waste champion Richard Handley said STDC was taking the lead on investigating the regional facility.
‘‘Nothing’s been decided other
than we can’t keep sending stuff to Hampton Downs.’’
Handley said it was good to have the councils working together to ‘‘get the best deal’’ and there were a number of options on the table.
This even included sending waste to Remediation NZ’s Uruti plant, should it get consents, Handley said.
‘‘That remains an option.’’ Working together on waste is not unusual for the district councils. Each agreed to pitch in for a regional landfill at Eltham and even spent $7m building the road before deciding in 2019 to truck rubbish to Bonny Glen landfill in Rangitikei instead.
STDC communications’ manager Gerard Langford said the councils were looking for the facility, which would accept residential and commercial organic waste, to be somewhere in the region within the next two or three years.
‘‘This includes the possibility of working with private operators who may be looking to establish such a facility,’’ Langford said.
In the STDC long-term plan, the only note of the facility is money set aside for a feasibility study, which is funded by a waste minimisation levy, not ratepayers.
‘‘We don’t have any money set aside for our own facility,’’ Langford said. ‘‘We’re going to do a bit more feasibility work and due diligence.’’
Langford said there was more than one private contractor the council had been in contact with.
‘‘It’s far more preferable to support other operators, and make them viable.’’
This would also mean the ratepayers would not have to ‘‘fork out’’ for a council-established facility.
‘‘If we did have to, we’d bring it back to council.’’
Stratford chief executive Sven Hanne said there was money in its draft LTP to pay for the transport and disposal of waste, but future adjustments could be made should a facility go ahead.