Bay of Plenty Regional Council pollution expert Toby Barach on how lessons from the Rena cleanup were used after a buried West Coast landfill flooded.
Tauranga pollution experts are helping the West Coast recover from what Forest and Bird called "potentially the biggest coastal eco-disaster since the Rena".
On March 26 the Fox River flooded in torrential rain and scoured out a buried landfill, washing tonnes of rubbish along miles of pristine West Coast beaches.
The scenes that greeted the Bay of Plenty Regional Council's Toby Barach when he arrived in Westland just over a week after the flood were not unlike those he saw after the Rena spilled oil and rubbish along the coast from Maketū to Mount Maunganui and on Mōtītī and Matakana islands in 2011.
The Fox River had eroded about 50m of the bush-laden bank into the face of the old landfill.
The face of the buried landfill was eroded by floodwaters. Photo / supplied
Rubbish had been dragged downstream into the ocean, where tides and currents were washing it up along 40km to 50km of coast.
Barach, a pollution prevention officer at Tauranga City Council during the Rena cleanup, flew down at the request of West Coast authorities to help co-ordinate volunteers.
He found the cleanup was largely being coordinated by capable but inexperienced volunteers, as local council staff were "stretched" by major safety and infrastructure issues including the collapse of the Waiho bridge and washed out roads.
The bridge over the Waiho River at Haast was washed away on March 26. Photo / supplied
Barach was thrust into the role of incident manager.
"They had no framework to deal with a rubbish pollution incident at that scale."
Barach called in two Tauranga colleagues, John Morris and Adrian Heays, each with a "huge amount of experience" from the Rena response, to help with planning, logistics and operations.
Tasks included managing growing volunteer numbers, assessing which areas were safe for volunteers, arranging helicopters to access remote beaches, seeking funding and helping with environmental assessments.
Bay of Plenty Regional Council coastal catchments principle advisor Toby Barach says there is a lesson to be learned about single-use plastics. Photo / George Novak
Meanwhile, the old landfill was stabilised to prevent a repeat, and the river was diverted away.
In the week Barach was there, 15 fadges - big bags used in wool sheds and for garden waste - of waste was collected.
The regional council's Mike Furniss and Tauranga council's Jim Summers were also among Bay experts at or heading to the West Coast to lend their expertise to the recovery.
Most of the rubbish strewn across beaches was single-use plastics. Photo / supplied
Rubbish spill a 'wake-up call'
Toby Barach said there were lessons for both councils and everyday people from the West Coast landfill flood.
He said most of the rubbish was single-use plastics - from bags and bottles to masses of single-serve motel milk containers.
"It was a real wake-up call that the waste problem we create doesn't go away if you bury it," Barach said.
"We are so used to a convenience lifestyle, but this is not convenient."
He said there were many buried landfills on public and private land throughout New Zealand, including in the Bay of Plenty - some known, others unknown.
Some were protected from flooding and sea-level rise, but the incident should be a reminder to councils to reassess and make new protection plans where needed.
