Waste plant for ‘better, not worse’
A key figure behind a controversial recycling and waste-toenergy power plant planned for Te Awamutu is confident it can operate safely, despite concerns raised by environmental groups.
‘‘We’re not looking to hurt the environment; we’re looking to improve it,’’ said Craig Tuhoro (Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Apakura), managing director of Hamilton’s Global Metal Solutions (GMS), which won a Mā ori exporter of the year title last year.
The multi million-dollar Paewira Recycle Plant in Racecourse Rd would aim to recycle some material and burn other matter to generate power. It’s intended fuel will include food packaging waste from the likes of McDonald’s that can’t be recycled.
Three environmental groups have raised various concerns, such as potential health effects of plant emissions, including dioxin, which can cause cancer, and dealing with ‘‘toxic’’ leftover ash.
GMS subsidiary Global Contracting Services (GCS) has supplied documentation to the Waipā District Council insisting any contaminants produced would have effects ranging from ‘‘less than minor’’ to ‘‘no more than minor’’.
In an interview on Wednesday at GMS’s Frankton headquarters, Tuhoro said he was comfortable they could address any ongoing concerns about plant discharges. Their thinking would be ‘‘based on the science – it’s been scrutinised heavily’’, he said.
Plant systems could manage emissions at ‘‘better than safe levels’’. ‘‘This all has to pass scrutiny and science,’’ he added.
Tuhoro also believed they could easily address concerns about noise and smells from the plant.
GCS project director Adam Fletcher said there had been criticism the plant would burn waste for energy rather than recycle things. But he said it would generally aim to recycle if possible before burning.
‘‘We want to pull out anything of value,’’ said Tuhoro.
The plant would have highquality technology such as shredders and magnets to help maximise extracting revenue from the waste.
But if material was better used for fuel, such as ‘‘post-consumer’’ material that couldn’t be recycled efficiently, it would be incinerated.
Sometimes, Tuhoro added, more carbon could be produced by recycling processes involving the likes of significant transport rather than incineration.
The project is looking at using debt and equity funding, with activity expected to involve nearly $120 million during construction, and the hunt is on to finalise partners, nationally and internationally.
‘‘A few partners could be the way forward,’’ Tuhoro said.
Both the Waikato regional and Waipā district councils are seeking more information from the plant’s promoters after applications to them for the OK to proceed. Fletcher expected to be able to provide all answers to council queries by the end of the month. Operational consents were needed before they started building.
It was hoped earthworks could start in October this year, with the plant completed within two years after that.
Fletcher stressed the applications exclude taking water from or discharging waste into the nearby Mangapiko Stream. ‘‘We want it bettered not worsened.’’
Approached for comment on the planned plant, the co-director of the political ecology research centre at Massey University, associate professor Trisia Farrelly, raised various concerns.
For example, ‘‘incinerators waste more energy than they produce, primarily because what we incinerate needs to be replaced by new products’’, she said.
‘‘Extracting virgin materials from the earth, and manufacturing and processing these into new materials to replace the ones incinerated, uses up tremendous amounts of energy compared to reusing or recycling what we already have,’’ Farrelly said.
‘‘Incineration is the most expensive and dirtiest form of energy production, releasing more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere per megawatt-hour than coal.’’
The documentation from GCS, however, insisted various contaminants produced – including particulate matter, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, mercury and dioxins – can all be managed safely.
‘‘This all has to pass scrutiny and science.’’
Craig Tuhoro