Curbs on use of old car parts at council landfill

By CATHY ARONSON

HAMILTON - Environment Waikato has placed restrictions on the Waikato District Council's use of recycled car parts to cover its Huntly landfill.

The condition was imposed on the council yesterday when Environment Waikato granted the landfill's first resource consent in its 30 years of operation.

For the past five years the council's landfill contractor, Perry Waste, has used approximately 20 to 40 cu m of "flocc material" daily to cover the landfill, which sits on top of former Huntly East coal mine tailings.

The consent allows the Huntly landfill to operate for up to nine more months while the council builds Huntly's transfer station. The landfill will be closed and revegetated.

The flocc material, from Sims Pacific Metals in Auckland, is the tennis ball-sized byproduct of recycled car parts once metals have been removed.

But people living near the landfill say that up to 60 cu m of flocc a day have been dumped there and the material is contaminating the environment.

Environment Waikato's hearing committee said that the flocc material was not suitable for cover or disposal. It exceeded recommended contamination guidelines, could pollute the ground water and was a potential fire risk.

In its condition to the consent, the committee said that the material could be used only if each load was tested for contaminants and the results shown to Environment Waikato.

In another condition, it said that approximately 3ha of existing flocc material had to be covered within three months.

The council's community assets group manager, Gary Allis, said the testing would be highly impractical and effectively banned it from using flocc material.

He said the council had three weeks to consider lodging an appeal in the Environment Court.

During the resource consent hearings the council had disputed Environment Waikato's assessment of the contaminants, as it was the first time the flocc material had failed a test in five years, Mr Allis said.

The material was used because it bound well with rubbish and was easier to work around. It was also free. Daily cover with the sawdust alternative would cost the council $2000 a month.

Environment Waikato's resource consent officer, Brent Sinclair, said the contaminants were considered to be so high and variable that the hearings committee decided continued use was not worth the risk.

He also said that the landfill did not meet present standards and could not cope with increased contaminants.

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The consent allowed the council to discharge leachate, stormwater and contaminants for another 35 years after closure. It also restricted the amount of refuse collected to no more than 1000 cu m a month.

The landfill has no lining or leachate collection. Part of the new consent includes a leachate collection system, but this will collect only 40 per cent of the leachate.

The council originally wanted to extend the landfill for six years but faced strong local opposition.