Seeking to solve our toxic problem

log stack emissions or an alternative fumigant acceptable to trading partners. The Bay of Plenty Regional Council has given Genera until April 2019 to be using recapture technology for all fumigations in Tauranga.

The Environmental Protection Authority’s (EPA) deadline for total recapture nationwide is October 2020 – in order to meet our international obligations to protect the ozone layer.

An Australian company that specialises in fumigation solutions believes it has the answer to New Zealand’s methyl bromide problem, but says the timber industry is stalling because it doesn’t want to spend the money – an accusation the industry strongly denies.

Nordiko Quarantine Systems produces a recapture system where the gas is ventilated through filters.

The methyl bromide sticks to the carbon, which is then disposed of in landfills. Genera currently uses the technology for container fumigations in Nelson.

Joe Falco, Nordiko’s technical manager, says the company is ready to upscale to log stacks and has offered to fund a trial at Tauranga or Northport. (Australia is also a big user of methyl bromide, but doesn’t fumigate logs in the open.)

The equipment is in New Zealand ready to go, Falco says, but the project has stalled because timber exporters have insisted on a nondisclosure agreement preventing Nordiko from sharing results of the trial.

‘‘At a meeting we had last year there was concern by the industry that if the trials proved successful, that a mandate for recapture would occur . . . and that would increase the cost to export the logs.’’

Don Hammond, chairman of the forestry industry group STMBR (Stakeholders in Methyl Bromide Reduction) says that’s not true.

‘‘It’s not about us not wanting to mandate a system – we’re desperate to find a system that works.’’