Wainui te Whara Stream works continue
Following the installation of new culverts at the Douglas and King Street bridges and the completion of five private bridges over the Wainui Te Whara Stream, work to improve the flow capacity of the stream channel has now started.
Channel improvement work undertaken to date has seen the installation of sheet piling walls on a 140-metre section of the stream close to Valley Road. A resource consent application has been lodged for the remaining work, which will involve channel deepening and widening and erosion protection through the stream’s urban section. This work will require the removal of approximately 11,000 cubic metres of material from the stream channel and, together with the work already undertaken, will increase the channel capacity by about 60 percent (to 32 cubic metres/second).
The resource consent for the second stage of the process was notified to the public on 6 September and submissions will close on Friday, 7 October 2016.
New greenwaste facility in operation
The Whakatāne District’s new greenwaste facility on Keepa Rd is now in operation and is expected to provide considerable cost savings to ratepayers. The facility allows for 4,500 tonnes of greenwaste to be processed into useful agricultural compost, as opposed to being trucked out of the District at a cost of around $90,000 per annum. Close to 90 percent of establishment cost of the facility was funded from the Ministry for the Environment’s Waste Minimisation Fund and the District’s Waste Levy Fund, and Whakatāne District Council Solid Waste Manager Nigel Clarke says that external funding means the facility will soon pay for itself.
“We are seeing some major savings from not having to transport our greenwaste elsewhere for processing, and we are also expecting to see some reductions in our solid waste volumes in the wake of the changes we are making now to our recycling programme,” he says. “In accordance with the consent conditions, bunding and stormwater collection systems have been constructed and bores drilled to monitor groundwater quality. And any stormwater runoff will be diverted into the nearby 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.
New recycling system rolls out
Whakatāne District residents can expect to see a new recycling bin with a bright yellow lid arrive at their properties between 15 September and 3 October. The new bin allows a ‘glass out’ recycling system to be introduced, as part of the enhanced recycling service which will be rolled out across the District from 1 October.
A key change will see the current recycling crate used for glass only, while the new yellow-lidded bin will be used for all other recyclables (paper and cardboard, steel and aluminium cans, grades 1-7 plastics, and plastic bags). The use of the existing refuse and greenwaste bins remains unchanged.
The kerbside recycling collection will also change from a weekly to a fortnightly service, on alternate weeks to the greenwaste collection (where that service is provided). While the recycling collection will be less frequent, the extra capacity provided by the new bin will allow residents to recycle a greater volume of recyclable material. The ability to recycle grades 1 - 7 plastics (rather than just grades 1 & 2) will also mean more material is recycled and less waste is sent to landfill.
Recycling collections will be undertaken with the general refuse collection, which will continue each week as usual. Changes to the current system, including confirmation of the date of your first fortnightly recycling collection, will be explained in a leaflet delivered with the new bin.