Specialist waste management company InterGroup Limited has been given a tender to remove a large storage of hazardous materials from a site in Ruakākā. Photo / Supplied
Specialist waste management company InterGroup Limited has been given a tender to remove a large storage of hazardous materials from a site in Ruakākā. Photo / Supplied
Five public agencies will pay to remove up to one million litres of hazardous materials from a Northland site whose owners and operators failed to take action despite court orders.
Whangārei District Council (WDC) has let a tender to specialist waste management company InterGroup Limited to evaluate the hazardous wasteon a site at Allis Bloy Pl in Ruakākā and to repackage the solvents for safe transport to a disposal or recycling facility.
WDC said the clean-up would be a very expensive exercise and that efforts would be made to recoup costs from the site operators and owners.
The Northland Regional Council, Ministry of Environment, Environmental Protection Authority and WorkSafe would share the cost of the clean-up with WDC.
Solvents and industrial chemical waste are stored in old, damaged, rusty and leaking drums and containers on the property, posing significant risks to the environment.
The initial resource consent was granted to Sustainable Waste Management (SWM) in June 2008 to store up to 50,000 litres of solvents and chemicals in conjunction with the operation of a recycling plant.
That land was subdivided and the area to which the resource consent applied was transferred to Sustainable Solvents.
Separate consents granted by the Northland Regional Council to SWM for discharge to air were later transferred to Sustainable Solvents. No consents have been granted in respect of discharges on to land or into water.
The Environment Court issued interim and later final enforcement orders against Sustainable Solvents Group, Sustainable Solvents and its owner, Brian Smith, Solvent Services New Zealand and its directors, John Manus Pretorius and Aaron Baldwin.
They ignored the order and the court then granted consent to WDC to remove the waste and bill the owners.
The Northern Advocate went to Smith's One Tree Pt home last week seeking comment as to why the court orders had not been complied with, but he was not at home and has not returned messages left for him by the Advocate.
WDC infrastructure group manager Simon Weston said work on the site would begin in the next four to six weeks.
Recycling or disposal will be undertaken at properly licensed facilities in New Zealand and Australia, he said.
Weston said contaminated stormwater or bund water which has accumulated on-site was to be removed in bulk container trucks for treatment and disposal at the InterGroup facility in Auckland.
No solvents or waste, other than bund water, will be transported to InterGroup's Auckland facility.
Some of the solvents and hazardous waste piled up at a site in Ruakākā in breach of environment rules. Photo / Supplied
Weston said all substances, including each container, would be tracked to confirm they were properly managed and were transported to the correct facility and finally disposed of.
"While commercial sensitivity prevents us from publicly discussing costs, we can say that the clean-up will be a very expensive process. It will be a lengthy and complicated project requiring a very secure site and strict safety procedures."
Weston said WDC, NRC, the ministry and Worksafe tried to get the owners and operators to clean up the site and operate within the conditions of their resource consent for several years, before seeking the court order.
The solvent disposal facility was set up by private operators to receive industrial chemicals for safe disposal or processing. Over the years more product was stored on the site than was allowed under its resource consent. Concerns about illegal discharges from the site resulted in a prosecution by the Northland Regional Council in 2015.
In December 2018, WDC arranged for fire prevention works to be undertaken near the site and in early 2019, NRC and WDC paid for security to monitor the site to ensure public safety.
WDC has also provided assistance by supplying intermediate bulk containers for packaging contaminated water for removal.
Responsibility for health and safety during the clean-up will lie with the contractor InterGroup Limited and WDC.
