Tamihere wants waste-to-energy plant to deal with Auckland's rubbish

Auckland mayoral candidates Craig Lord and John Tamihere both want the city to build waste-to-energy rubbish facilities. Photo / File

Auckland mayoral hopeful John Tamihere says he will deal with the city's rubbish by turning it to energy through "gasification" to avoid it piling up in landfills.

Gasification involves turning waste to energy by pyrolysis, a high-heat process that creates gas and ash.

It has been floated in the past for New Zealand and is used in cities overseas including Los Angeles.

Tamihere said he would seek proposals for a public-private partnership to bring the waste management plan to Auckland.

But his fellow mayoral candidate Craig Lord says Tamihere has stolen the idea from Lord's campaign, which announced the policy months ago.

Lord said he had already met with international companies who were keen to build such a plant.

"I said it back then and I'll say it again, a waste to energy plant is a fantastic idea, we incinerate, we recycle, we stop the need to build more landfills, and it would nullify the ridiculous idea for the Dome Valley dump that council and Waste Management are currently trying hard to push through."

Under current plans, Auckland is set to have general waste collected fortnightly instead of weekly, and a food scraps bin will be issued to all households at a cost of $67 per year.

Tamihere said those plans would lead to health hazards, rat infestation and increase illegal dumping.

He would instead keep rubbish collections weekly and get rid of the food scraps bin until it had been proven effective.

Launching his waste and energy policy this morning, Tamihere said he would also bring back annual inorganic rubbish collections. It is not clear how this would differ from the current inorganic collections which are held once a year, but must be booked in advance.

His policy would also end the current policy of "stickering" illegally dumped rubbish, instead having it removed immediately.