Hastings an option as Wairoa landfill nears capacity

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Wairoa landfill in just six years has gone from having the capability to accept rubbish from other councils to having to offload its rubbish to other councils.

Wairoa District Council’s 2018 Waste Management and Minimisation Plan said: “Wairoa has a landfill that has capacity to take waste from the Gisborne District Council. With significant capacity remaining at the landfill, this has led to discussions around the future of the service in Wairoa and options such as accepting waste from outside the district.”

Fast forward six years and WDC is considering offloading its rubbish to Hastings.

During a Māori Standing Committee meeting last Thursday, WDC Māori relationships manager Duane Culshaw said they had approached Omarunui landfill (near Hastings) which was open to a conversation.

“We have not made any decisions but we are looking at options because the landfill is nearing capacity. Options include moving rubbish down the bay.”

Councillor Roz Thomas said there was a lot of greenwaste but no capable facility at the Fraser Street landfill site to deal with it.

“Down the bay, they are able to get rid of that waste better, and at a regional level it is good for emissions.”

Mr Culshaw said the council was open to cost-effective ideas, suggestions or guidance.

Māori Standing Committee member Whaiora Maindonald suggested a metal crusher machine.

“Surely that would be good with metal prices going up? We have a lot of abandoned cars around Wairoa, especially in North Clyde, and it looks messy.”

Erana Hammond said a WDC Solid Waste Review cultural impact assessment done in October 2022 had good recommendations.

Three options given by consultants WSP were ceasing the waste disposal operation in Wairoa and transporting all residual waste to Omarunui Landfill; continuing at the current scale with construction of a new cell in forestry; or continuing at an increased scale with requirements of a regional development of a new landfill at an accelerated rate.

WDC finance and corporate support  group manager Gary Borg said the solid waste management plan was number one in the Long Term Plan.

“We will consult with the community on it and it will be conceptual.”

WDC has wrestled with the future of the landfill for some time.

In its 2021-2031 Waste Management Activity Management Plan, it stated the Wairoa landfill had a cell life of six to seven years remaining.

In that plan, landfill sustainability and affordability were among the problems.

A 2020 survey indicated that based on the fill rates, there was less than eight years of life remaining at the existing site.

At the time, the key strategic response to monitoring the capacity was to allocate funding to allow an annual survey to be completed to record volumes of refuse and its remaining capacity to monitor when a new cell would be required.

A key project detailed in the Ten Year Plan was to extend the liner to full height during the 2022/23 financial year at a cost of $309,000 and that a new cell needed to be constructed before the current consent expired in 2031.

If that were to go ahead, construction would be between 2025 to 2027 at a cost of $2 million, including design and consent renewal.

It was reported in The Wairoa Star on February 27 that in one month after Cyclone Gabrielle, the landfill received three times its annual tonnage, which was usually 3000 tonnes pa.

The cyclone-generated waste, including the 9666 tonnes received last March, means the present cell will run out of capacity in 2026 instead of 2029.  — Wairoa Star