By CATHY ARONSON
Motorists dodging waste from stock trucks will be a thing of the past with Transfund clearing the way for waste dumps throughout New Zealand.
About two dozen sites on state highways could be open by the end of next year, after Transfund agreed to pay half the construction and
site management costs and all of the roading costs.
The move follows at least five years of nationwide talks between road users, local and regional councils, farmers and roading authorities.
The dumps were first mooted in 1992 by South Waikato Mayor Gordon Blake, after local man Kevin Le Gros was killed when the motorbike he was riding skidded on stock truck waste.
The council was the first to test the dumps four years ago, one at Putaruru and one on State Highway 5 near Tapapa.
Mr Blake said 700 cu m were collected from the two sites each year.
"It has been a big, ongoing problem, with waste being sprayed onto vehicles or huge pools of effluent dumped on the main drag.
"It was the last straw when the local man died skidding on the stuff."
The dumps were part-financed by the regional council, Environment Waikato, the district council and Transit after a study showed that 7 million litres of effluent were trucked through the Waikato each year - the highest amount in the country.
About 4 million litres were spilled on the region's roads.
Transfund is accepting applications to set up the dumps, which cost about $100,000.
A dozen sites are ready for construction in the South Island but the North will have to wait until next year while Transit maps out how many dumps it needs.
The Otorohanga District Council is one of the many Waikato councils wanting to build a dump.
Mayor Eric Tait said he was pleased Transfund was supporting the scheme. "We were paying to clean up someone else's crap.
"The tanks would overflow and spew onto people's windscreens or were dumped in the middle of someone's nice picnic area."
Federated Farmers general policy manager Gavin Forrest said the dumps would improve the image of farmers and New Zealand.
He said the industry had developed a code of practice which included leaving stock long enough to dispose of their waste before transporting.
In the past 10 years, trucks had installed storage tanks, which would be emptied at the dump sites, instead of letting the waste spill onto the road.
Mr Forrest said trucks were forced to dump waste on the side of the road to avoid spilling it onto cars.
The dump sites should solve 99 per cent of the problem.
By CATHY ARONSON
Motorists dodging waste from stock trucks will be a thing of the past with Transfund clearing the way for waste dumps throughout New Zealand.
About two dozen sites on state highways could be open by the end of next year, after Transfund agreed to pay half the construction and
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