Resource Recovery Centre feasibility study looks at options to reduce waste going to landfill

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

Tairāwhiti has taken another step towards having a resource recovery centre (RRC) aimed at significantly reducing landfill — but only if funding can be sourced.

Gisborne district councillors, sitting at a full council meeting, decided to proceed with developing a region-wide RRC as recommended by a Civil Assist feasibility study funded by the Ministry for the Environment at a cost of $90,000.

The other option open to councillors was to not proceed with the resource recovery centre.

Civil Assist suggested a three-stage approach, but the recommendation adopted by councillors stated that suggested locations could be “revisited”.

The three stages are —

Stage 1, $3.7 million to $4.9m:

Establishing a main/rural centre in Gisborne. One proposed site is at 25-27 Banks Street, in front ofthe wastewater treatment plant.

The main facility would accept most waste streams while an industrial facility would receive large materials including construction and demolition waste.

Stage 2, $600,000 to $800,000:

Establishing a satellite centre with transfer stations at Ruatoria, Tolaga Bay and Te Karaka which would accept all local waste streams.

Stage 3, $300,000 to $500,000:

Establishing further satellite or community centres (not costed) to accept waste.

The decision follows a public consultation period which had to be restricted to online input because of Covid-19.

One concern expressed in public consultation was the need to avoid areas prone to flooding.

The paper before councillors said resource recovery centres diverted waste from landfill by providing people with the opportunity to put waste into a facility where it can either be reused, repurposed, recycled or the resource it’s made from can be recovered.

That enables a longer lifespan of landfills and prevents waste from being trucked to other regions, which comes at a cost to ratepayers.

Gisborne has not had a landfill since the closure of Paokahu in 2002 and most solid waste is trucked daily to Tirohia Landfill in Hauraki.

A class 1 landfill at Ruatoria receives waste from rural transfer stations north of Tolaga Bay, while waste from waste stations south of Tolaga Bay goes to Gisborne.

That consent expires in 2025.

The council’s 2017 Waste Assessment shows about 42 percent of Tairāwhiti waste could theoretically be removed from the waste stream and nearly 6000 tonnes of waste could be diverted from landfill.

Councillor Andy Cranston said green waste separation was “a must”.

Council had some responsibility “with our plastic bags”.

He was surprised the report had no information about the possible use of wheelie bins.

Cr Cranston said he realised the issue was the possible development of recovery centres, but efficient dealing with greenwaste was important.

Council director of community lifelines David Wilson said a paper on wheelie bins would be presented to councillors later.

Cr Ani Pahuru-Huriwai sought clarification over the possible involvement of marae.

Mr Wilson said marae would not be used as waste stations, but marae carparks could serve as a drop-off point.

The council has no capital expenditure budgeted for the resource recovery centre.

Funding could be available from the Ministry for the Environment’s Waste Minimisation Fund.

The council was due to begin funding applications in April and will revisit sites and site requirements in May.