Quake inadvertently creates eyesore
Post-earthquake demolition has pushed a Wellington landfill into new areas – creating an unfortunate eyesore in the process.
C&D Landfill had to get a new resource consent to increase capacity in one of its gullies as demolition fill came in after the magnitude-7.8 Kaiko¯ ura earthquake.
The 2016 jolt was felt heavily in Wellington and led to wide-scale demolition across the city.
Photos taken in early April show rubbish strewn up the gorse-covered hill above the gully site near Wellington’s south coast.
C&D administration manager Christine Morgan said she had empathy for any people who had to see the rubbish. The landfill did care but ‘‘when the wind comes this does happen’’, she said.
The original plan was to put a fence along the so-called ‘‘Tip Track’’ above the landfill to catch windblown rubbish, she said.
But, as the consent made its way through Wellington City Council, it was decided the fence was going to create an even bigger eyesore as rubbish became snagged in it.
It was agreed that, instead, tip workers would clamber through the gorse each month to clear wayward rubbish.
It was also meant to dump dirt on top of loose rubbish at the end of each day – especially when it was windy – to stop it blowing away. But this was only possible when loads of dirt arrived at the site.
The landfill only took clean fill, which escalated in volume after the 2016 quake meant many of Wellington’s quake-prone buildings needed to be demolished.
An average 10-storey building would fill 600 articulated trucks as it was demolished, Morgan said.