Roundup ban busts budget
Phasing out toxic weedkiller has left the Garden City with a costly fix for getting rid of pest plants.
The cost of maintaining Christchurch roads and footpaths was $2 million higher than forecast in the second six months of 2018, driven partly by having to rely on hand weeding and steam use as an alternative to the herbicide Roundup.
City councillors are now considering whether they should find another $850,000 to plug the gap in the parks and roads budgets caused by the more expensive, environmentally friendly, options.
The council was applauded three years ago when it drastically cut its reliance on glyphosate, commonly sold as the weedkiller Roundup, after it was classified in 2015 as being ‘‘probably carcinogenic to humans’’ by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
A new study has found people with high exposure to glyphosatebased herbicides have a 41 per cent increased risk of developing the cancer non-Hodgkin lymphoma, directly contradicting the US Environmental Protection Agency’s assurances of safety over the weed killer.
US firm Monsanto, the maker of Roundup, and its German owner, Bayer AG, face more than 9000 lawsuits from people who blame the herbicide for their disease after a court case last year ruled it had caused cancer in a former school groundskeeper.
French authorities banned the sale of Roundup last month but president Emmanuel Macron swiftly backtracked after
complaints it would hurt the agricultural industry.
Christchurch decided in 2016 that Roundup should be used only on sites closed to the public or in places where no other method is practical.
But councillors were told this week the money budgeted for the alternatives was insufficient – and that contractors are struggling to maintain weeds in parks without using Roundup.
Proposing the extra cash, councillor Vicki Buck said the overspend had come because funding had not been increased in recent years to pay for the Roundup alternatives.
‘‘This is to rectify that situation so we’re not faced with the same situation at the end of next year,’’ she said.
The money would come from additional rates growth, Buck said – council income from a rise in the number of properties that rates can be levied on – meaning it would be ‘‘rates-neutral’’.
But that money would no longer be available for use elsewhere, hamstringing efforts to further reduce the level of rates increases.
Aaron Keown called for councillors to be fully briefed on the use of Roundup in Christchurch since the 2016 resolution – a move backed by Mayor Lianne Dalziel.
David East said the situation was ‘‘woefully inadequate’’.
Those on the weeding front line had said they would like a ‘‘softening’’ of the council’s position on the use of glyphosate, he said.
‘‘It’s absolutely ludicrous. Our city is going backwards in its Garden City image as a consequence.’’
But Yani Johanson said using glyphosate was ‘‘not acceptable", and that the decision over Roundup should not be blamed for maintenance going down in the city.