Waipā District Council to submit on waste to energy plant
With “extremely high stakes” at play, Waipā District Council is taking the lead for the community in forming a submission on the proposal to build a waste-to-energy incineration plant in Te Awamutu.
At a workshop for elected members today, council staff were directed to prepare a draft submission to the Board of Inquiry that will make the final decision if the plant goes ahead. The submission will focus on the social and community impacts of the proposal, its potential effects on health and wellbeing, cultural concerns, and the risks that it undermines waste minimisation efforts.
Waipā Mayor Susan O’Regan said the council had to consider the worst-case scenario if the plant was to be built, particularly in the proposed location on Racecourse Road which is next to residential neighbourhoods and the Mangapiko Stream.
The facility would take around 480 tonnes of refuse each day, including plastic, tyres, car bodies, commercial and industrial waste. Burning the rubbish would be used to generate steam, to be turned into electrical power.
“The impact is not just on the neighbouring streets – what about the impact on the agriculture which underpins our economy in Waipā? The stakes are extremely high,” she said.
“And what’s more, we have done so much work on waste minimisation and recycling. The message this sends, that we need not bother with a circular economy because we can just send it all to be incinerated, just doesn’t sit right.”
Resource consent applications for the plant were initially made by Global Contracting Solutions Ltd to Waipā District Council and Waikato Regional Council, but the councils referred it to the Minister for the Environment. This was due both to its significance and the huge community interest in the proposal, and so greenhouse gas emissions could be considered in the decision-making process.
O’Regan said up until the application was called in by the Minister and directed to a Board of Inquiry, the Council had a regulatory role and therefore had to “stay in our lane.”
“So, we may have appeared to have been absent from the dialogue about this issue, but there were good reasons for this. Now, we can take the lead on behalf of our community and identify the key issues we believe the Board should consider.
“There is just not enough evidence that this plant will uphold our community’s wellbeing.”
In her decision to call the application in and direct to a Board of Inquiry, the Minister agreed the proposal was of national significance, as it “has aroused widespread public concern due to its actual or likely effect on the environment”, and because the proposed technology and processes are new to New Zealand.
Nearly 900 public submissions were made to Waipā District Council during the first stage of the resource consent process. These will all be considered by the Board of Inquiry, along with those made to the Waikato Regional Council, and do not need to be relodged. All previous requests to speak at the hearing will also be carried over.
Anyone can now make a new or further submission by 5pm on Wednesday, December 18, but must do so via the Environmental Protection Authority. The authority is not involved with the decision-making but manages the public submission process.
To make a submission, visit the Environmental Protection Authority’s website, https://www.epa.govt.nz/public-consultations/open-consultations/te-awamutu-waste-to-energy-plant/
You can also submit by email or post – for more information and to download the relevant forms, please visit the Environmental Protection Authority website.
