The burning question for Hawke’s Bay growers with flood debris

Bruce Nimon, general manager at Kokako Farms, has piles of irrecoverable cyclone debris on his hands, and he is stuck waiting for guidance on what to do with it. Photo / Paul Taylor

A mucky stew of trees, vines, silt, treated posts, wire, irrigation pipes, plastic sheets and plastic netting still lies over many orchards and vineyards across Hawke’s Bay.

The burning question remains - how should orchard owners get rid of it?

A Ministry for the Environment spokesperson says the possibility of allowing the controlled open-air burning of some waste has been raised with them, and the ministry is drafting an Order in Council (OIC) to address this for consideration by ministers.

Hawke’s Bay regional councillor Xan Harding, himself of an orchardist background, says growers are currently trapped in legislative limbo, unsure how to address the piles of rubbish they aren’t able to dump, burn or recycle in time for the next harvest.

Harding says an OIC, with power enabled by the Severe Weather Emergency Recovery Legislation Act, could be a solution to allow growers to selectively burn orchard and vineyard flood waste with pollutants in it.

There’s a few steps to go through yet, though.

“The minister must consider engaging with local Māori and community groups on draft Orders and they must be reviewed by a Severe Weather Events Review Panel,” Harding said.

Harding said if burning of orchard waste wasn’t loosened this winter, the costs would be significant.

He said Hawke’s Bay Regional Council (HBRC) had estimated the recovery of destroyed orchards and vineyards via recycling would mean a cost of $120 million for growers, ratepayers or taxpayers.

That was excluding the cost of developing a new landfill site that would be needed to take the chipped mixed waste. The practical reality of that meant the issue went beyond cost alone, he said.

“HBRC ran a sorting trial on a Twyford orchard, which demonstrated that separation of posts and some plant material was possible but that wire and plastic were practicably inseparable, all at a very high financial cost,” Harding said.

He said burning certain items was prohibited for good reason, but the clean-up was urgent.

“Burning items such as treated timber, coated wire and plastics is a prohibited activity for good reason. It releases toxins into the air that can be hazardous to health and can leave behind long-term soil contamination,” Harding said.

“On the other hand, failing to quickly recover destroyed orchards and vineyards has its own consequences, both to the growers, their employees, the regional economy and wider public health.”

He said that while the Ministry for the Environment could have already started the process itself, seeking an OIC could be a six to 12-week process.

Hawke's Bay Regional Council councillor Xan Harding on the Waipunga Rd bridge over the Esk River, with piles of slash and debris in the background. Photo / Warren Buckland

Kokako Farms general manager Bruce Nimon said he and his workers had cleaned up everything they could on their vineyard but were left with several piles, including 17 kilometres of irrecoverable muddy netting, rubbish, irrigation pipe, wire, posts, nets and vines.

Six hectares of land on their 100-hectare vineyard was covered in muck.

“Semi-buried stuff, covered with trash, pine trees, portaloos, people’s refrigerators, all of that is entangled within that giant mess,” Nimon said.

“We were looking at - ‘How do you try to return that to some sort of recyclable stream, how do you get the wire out?’ We did some trials, and it is just not feasible.”

He said machinery couldn’t access the area or separate the rubbish, while manually doing it was dangerous and unhealthy for workers, many of whom had gastroenteritis in the days following.

Nimon said they would like to be able to separate some material and burn the rest of the debris in a big pile - the alternative would still create pollution, and burning was the “lesser of two evils”. Photo / Paul Taylor

He said workers could not take netting, steel wire or treated timber to dumps, and it could not be recycled while it was in the state it was in.

“Where we can we have separated organics and non-organics.”

Nimon said they would like to be able to separate some material and burn the rest of the debris in a big pile to be able to move on - the alternative would still create pollution and burning was the “lesser of two evils”.

“Do our towns and cities want hundreds of trucks burning diesel going backwards and forwards if we were to go and dump it somewhere?” he said.

“If we [do] nothing, then come next summer, we are going to have dust storms. All this silt that should have been incorporated somehow into the soil will now become a dust hazard, and those potential contaminants will blow everywhere.”

The Ministry for the Environment spokesperson said Minister for the Environment David Parker will consider proposals for OICs to help manage waste resulting from Cyclone Gabrielle.

“The ministry is currently looking at which parts of the Resource Management Act could be changed using this process to give landowners and occupiers flexibility to dispose of this waste,” the spokesperson said.

Ceri Edmonds, HBRC manager for policy and planning, said any OIC would need to demonstrate that it is “necessary” and “desirable”.

“OIC will be developed in response to requests from the community and local government on what issues they are currently facing as they recover from the impacts of the severe weather,” Edmonds said.

“HBRC is considering what Orders in Council it might want the various ministries to prioritise which will be useful for the recovery of Hawke’s Bay.”