Tauranga retirement village resident shocked by waste during demolition

A photo of the demolition wreckage. Photo / Supplied

A retirement village resident was "horrified" to see furniture and household goods had been reduced to rubble inside a demolished building instead of being donated to charity.

However, the retirement village said charities had been contacted and all usable items had already been relocated from the building which was planned for demolition.

The resident at The Bayview Village, who did not want to be named, said work on the property owned by Oceania Healthcare had begun about six weeks ago with asbestos removal before the building began to be demolished.

The resident said he was "horrified" to see usable items such as tables, chairs, curtains, and an indoor bowls table were smashed along with the building.

"They're crushing everything ... all sorts, all together.

"It seems like such a waste. Instead of asking the [Salvation] Army or anything if they'd like to come in and take the stuff away ... we're all horrified to see what they're doing.

"Even the timber work is all brushed down with a big digger and put in a big heap. Then they ride over it with the bulldozer and crush it all up.

"When we think of climate warming, the non-reusable [approach] just seems so crazy."

Oceania Healthcare chief executive officer Earl Gasparich said the resident's claims were not "completely untrue".

The demolition works relate to the old care facility at The Bayview which was decommissioned following the opening of the new facility in December last year, he said.

"We have already gone through a process of relocating all usable items including furniture and equipment to other Oceania facilities, and then made offers to local charities to come and recover any other items remaining," he said.

"They have done this and therefore the only items that are remaining in the facility are effectively not able to be reused.

"Our demolition contractor is also recycling all materials that are economically viable to recycle, realising that we have encountered asbestos in the foundations of the building which has hindered their ability to do this."