Te Awamutu waste-to-energy plant: Company ‘disappointed’ with requests for ministerial call-in

A concept drawing of what the planned waste-to-energy plant in Te Awamutu could look like.

The company behind Paewira, the controversial waste-to-energy plant planned for Te Awamutu, has reacted to Waipā District Council’s decision to ask the Minister for the Environment to get involved.

On Wednesday, the district council joined Waikato Regional Council in writing a letter to Minister Penny Simmonds requesting her to “call in” the resource consent application for the plant.

If an application is called in, it will be heard by either a board of inquiry or the Environment Court, instead of a hearing panel of independent commissioners.

This process means greenhouse gas emissions of the proposed plant can be considered.

The plant, proposed by Hamilton-based company Global Contracting Solutions, would burn 150,000 tonnes of waste annually to create electricity.

It would be built between Te Awamutu Racecourse and the Fonterra effluent ponds, and burn rubbish sourced from councils across the wider Waikato region.

GCS is seeking resource consents from Waikato Regional Council for discharges to air and water, and from Waipā District Council to construct and operate the plant. In its proposal, GCS said air discharges were going to be “benign”.

Because the consent applications were launched before amendments to the Resource Management Act were made in November 2022, the councils cannot consider the effects of greenhouse gas on climate change when deciding on the applications.

If the applications were called in by the minister, this would change.

In a statement, GCS project chairman Roger Wilson said it was “disappointing” the councils had taken this approach.

Global Contracting Solutions intends to build the plant on 401 Racecourse Rd. Image / Supplied

“We consider the Resource Management Act to prescribe a process for this type of decision to be made at a local level ... It is our view the ‘call-in’ resolution moves the consent decision to a New Zealand-wide consideration.

“We welcome appropriate process and robust consideration, given it [would be] the first of its kind in New Zealand. As we’ve stated before, we have deep respect for the resource consent process and relevant environmental considerations, as well as the Te Awamutu community.”

“[But] our world needs innovative solutions to waste management and climate change – Paewira is just that.”

However, community groups have disputed that waste-to-energy was a solution, saying it would be “toxic”.

Don’t Burn Waipā and the Zero Waste Network have supported the councils’ decisions to request a call-in.

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