Unless new uses are found, unsustainable disposal to landfill would cost the Regional Council and Tauranga City Council up to $67,000 in a bad sea lettuce year.
Mr Gardner's project includes trialling and monitoring using sea lettuce as fertiliser and promoting it to farmers, orchardists and gardeners, as well as investigating other options such as turning it into pellets for stock feed, biodigesting and fertiliser.
Earlier Bright Ideas projects are beginning to show success.
Council's Environmental Scientist Shane Iremonger's project to establish an odour threshold for hydrogen sulphide (Rotorua's smell) is determining how high levels have to be before people can detect them _ a vital factor for geothermal projects as well as wastewater treatment plants, waste transfer stations and composting operations.
No work has been done in New Zealand on this type of odour detection and local assessments have previously been based on international measures rather than local conditions.
Another project, proposed by Rivers and Drainage manager Bruce Crabbe, has investigated using dairy farm effluent to feed fish species for commercial production, or replenish native fish stocks.
A season of converting effluent to an edible food source has been completed in tank trials, and whitebait have been successfully fattened on dairy effluent.
On-farm trials are planned this year.
Regional Council Corporate General Manager Brian Trott said the projects staff have come up under the Bright Ideas scheme with have been exciting and innovative.
He said the Bright Ideas Innovation Fund provided "a bit of a boost'' to give staff the time and some funding to get their ideas off the ground, and benefit the region's communities.
