Proposed waste to energy plant FAQs

A company called Global Contracting Solutions.

Global Contracting Solutions want to build a waste to energy plant in Te Awamutu, incinerating 150,000 tonnes of rubbish annually. Burning the rubbish will be used to generate steam and that steam will be turned into electric power.

It would come from waste collected by multiple councils. The application says 480 tonnes of rubbish to be incinerated will be received on site, per day.

The application proposes that rubbish would be stored inside buildings, on the site, before being sorted and incinerated.

Not necessarily. That depends on where those who collect the waste choose to send it. Waipā generates around 27,000 tonnes of rubbish annually, based on this 2022 Waipā waste assessment.

No. It would need more than five times that to keep the plant going. Rubbish to be burned would have to trucked in from outside the district.

In the application, Global Contracting Solution say the proposed plant would generate 15 megawatts (MW) of electricity, which they say is sufficient to power 14,000 households.

No. Not, according to this information produced by the Ministry for the Environment.

That is what is being proposed. While the plant would operate on a continual 24 hours a day, seven day a week basis, the applicant suggests truck movements would be restricted to between the following hours:

• Monday to Saturday – 7am and 5pm
• Sundays and Public Holidays – 8am to 5pm

(Note, none of this has been decided yet because a resource consent has not been granted).

The applicant has assessed traffic generation waste delivery, service and staff traffic. The majority of waste delivery traffic (60 per cent) is projected to come from Auckland/Hamilton with access from Ōhaupō Road (SH3) and Racecourse Road.

The application suggests 60 people will be employed, with around 40 people on site during the day and 20 people on site at night.

The full application, with much more detail, is available here.

You can also find out more information about the application, the Board of Inquiry process and how the hearing will work at the Environmental Protection Authority’s website.

No. Legally we cannot. Unless an activity is classified as ‘prohibited’ any person can apply for a resource consent. Council then has a legal obligation to assess that application against the Resource Management Act.

In this case the proposed activities are not ‘prohibited’. That means Council has a legal obligation to process the application if it meets certain minimum requirements. These requirements have now all been met so the application is being processed.

Due to both its national significance and the huge community interest in the proposal, Waipā District Council and the Waikato Regional Council referred the resource consent applications to the Minister for the Environment.

In August 2024, the Minister agreed to ‘call in’ the applications. She then directed a Board of Inquiry to decide on the proposal. The board has until August 2025 to consider all submissions, hold a hearing and issue its decision.

A small portion of the proposed plant is located on land zoned as ‘Residential’ or ‘Rural’. As this is an industrial activity, resource consent is needed for the activity to go ahead in these zones.

The majority of the proposed site is in a Specialised Dairy Industrial Area, which is a specific area under Council’s District Plan. The proposed activity is not permitted in this area so permission, via a resource consent, is required.

No, the proposal does not comply with District Plan rules relating to earthworks, noise, building setbacks, the height of the chimney stack, landscaping/screening and vehicle entrance separation from another vehicle entrance.

Yes. Anyone can make a submission to the Board of Inquiry. You have until 5pm on Wednesday, 18 December to make a new or further submission.

All previous submissions that were received by the Waipā District and Waikato Regional Councils will be considered by the Board of Inquiry – they do not need to be re-lodged and all previous requests to speak at the hearing will be taken on board.

Submissions made directly to Councils closed in October 2023.

New or further submissions to the Board of Inquiry must be made by 5pm Wednesday, December 18 2024.

Waipā District Council received 872 submissions.

Waikato Regional Council received 824.

Yes, Waipā District Council wrote to 400 residents and businesses close to the proposed site, advising of the application and letting them know how to make a submission.

Yes, Global Contracting Solutions sought a resource consent from WRC for discharge of emissions to air, the discharge of stormwater and deposition of clean fill.

The resource consent application to Waikato Regional Council was also ‘called in’ by the Minister for the Environment, and will be part of the Board of Inquiry process.

On December 15, 2023 Waikato Regional Council asked the Environment Minister Penny Simmonds to ‘call in’ the proposal.

A ‘call in’ means that instead of the proposal being heard by a Hearing Panel of independent commissioners, it will be heard by a Board of Enquiry or the Environment Court.

WRC made this decision to enable greenhouse gas emissions to be considered. See their media release here for more detail.

On February 7 2024, Waipā District Councillors also agreed the proposal should be called in. Waipā District Council has now also formally made that request of the Minister. See Waipā's news release here: Council asks Minister to call in proposal.

In August 2024, the Minister called in the resource consent applications. She has now directed a Board of Inquiry to decide on the proposal.

Waipā District Council has made a submission opposing the proposed waste-to-energy plant.

The applicant, Global Contracting Solutions.

If you have further questions about the proposal or the submission process, please contact the Environmental Protection Authority .

You can email teawamutu.nsp@epa.govt.nz or call 0800 426 843.

You can also write to Environmental Protection Authority, Private Bag 63002, Wellington 6140