Close to 90 percent of the construction cost of the Whakatāne District’s new greenwaste processing facility has been funded from external sources.
Whakatāne District Council Solid Waste Manager Nigel Clarke says the $309,000 Keepa Road facility is expected to begin operating next week and will process an estimated 4500 tonnes of greenwaste each year to produce useful agricultural compost.
“Thanks to a $180,000 funding contribution from by the Ministry for the Environment’s Waste Minimisation Fund and a further $94,000 from the District’s Waste Levy Fund, less than $35,000 of the construction cost will be funded by the Council,” he says. “Once the facility is operating, our haulage costs will also reduce by about $90,000 a year, so effectively, the project will pay for itself very quickly.”
Greenwaste derived from kerbside collections and deliveries to the Te Tahi Street refuse transfer station has been transported to Kawerau for processing at the Ecocast composting facility, but the company indicated in 2015 that that arrangement could not continue in the long-term. A feasibility study indicated that the Council-owned site adjacent to Whakatāne’s wastewater treatment ponds in Keepa Road offered the best processing solution, and a resource consent for the new facility was obtained in March 2015.
In accordance with the consent conditions, bunding and stormwater collection systems have been constructed and bores drilled to monitor groundwater quality. Stormwater runoff will be diverted into the wastewater ponds for treatment and disposal. Improved access to the site has also been provided from Keepa Road, and the operation of the facility will be required to meet strict conditions to prevent odour and noise nuisance to the surrounding area.
Mr Clarke says all greenwaste will be trucked to the site from the transfer station, with deliveries expected to begin next week. Processing of greenwaste to produce compost will begin next month, with the first finished product expected around February 2017.
“Operation of the greenwaste facility is an important part of our waste minimisation plan and will contribute to the ongoing reduction in the volume of solid waste which is trucked to landfill in the Waikato region. We expect further reductions in solid waste volumes to flow from the changes being introduced to our recycling service from 1 October onwards.”