Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Whanganui Chronicle

Meat firm spewing out excess waste

By John Maslin
Whanganui Chronicle·
2 Apr, 2014 05:21 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

The AFFCO Imlay freezing works is under fire.

The AFFCO Imlay freezing works is under fire.

Meat processor AFFCO could be in the gun for breaching trade waste discharge limits at its Wanganui plant.

Sampling over 10 working days in February by Wanganui District Council showed the Imlay plant exceeded its allowed limits - in some cases six times above the amounts prescribed in the council trade waste bylaw.

Discharges by the city's six major wet industries have been in the spotlight since the wastewater treatment plant failed and council was left facing a $24 million upgrade.

The council is reworking the existing bylaw and it will put more pressure on industries to pre-treat waste before they direct it into the treatment plant.

The latest samples - taken between February 11-24 - found while the five industries were within their limits, AFFCO exceeded in all three areas measured: biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), suspended solids, and oil and grease.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

On average, the meat plant was marginally above its daily limit of BODs of 10,100kg.

But for six of the 10 days it was well in excess, ranging between 10,432kg and 20,588kg.

Its oil and grease limit is 1512kg daily but on average it was dumping 2781kg, and was over the limit on eight of the 10 days.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Imlay can discharge a maximum of 5200kg of suspended solids into the city's treatment plant daily, but on average it was releasing 6076kg a day, ranging from 1325kg up to 15,777kg.

The council operations and reporting committee this week recommended constant sampling at Imlay and using the existing bylaw to force the company to rectify the situation.

What action council takes will be decided at its full meeting on April 28.

Senior wastewater engineer Arno Benadie told the committee that waste loads from Imlay had been heavy but the company could not explain why.

Discover more

Affco: Council figures wrong

03 Apr 05:22 PM

"Processing more could be a reason but they have told us production has not gone up," Mr Benadie said.

Council deputy chief executive Julian Harkness said the plant manager Troy Lambly told staff Imlay took its own measurements and had recorded lower results.

"Our measures differ but they've disagreed with our measurements in the past," Mr Harkness said.

"We use a monitoring system that's covered off in our trade waste bylaw and is similar to systems used by other councils."

All the wet industries are involved in discussions with council about the new bylaw.

It will give the council more certainty of loads coming from those plants and will include a pricing regime so if discharges are higher, the industry will pay more.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Councillor Charlie Anderson said he was concerned council was looking to take a stiff line with AFFCO.

"Surely we should be accommodating them somehow," he said.

But councillor Hamish McDouall said enforcing the discharge limits "was the only way to get them to pre-treat".

The bylaw says council can give an industry 20 days to clean up its performance or connection to the city's wastewater scheme will be shut off, essentially stopping production.

Mr Harkness said taking more untreated waste from wet industries into the upgraded treatment plant "would cost the city millions of dollars more".

"If we don't work together we'll again be back to being a smelly city. The wet industries may not agree on everything we're trying to do but they're working with us which is the main thing," he said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Councillor Rob Vinsen said AFFCO accepted it had to look after its own waste.

"They're paying $2 million a year for discharges now. Up front pre-treatment might cost but you can be sure they'll be looking very closely at the overall benefits of such a plant," he said.

The Chronicle asked AFFCO for comment but it had not responded by press time.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Chronicle

RSA 'alive and well' despite premises closure

11 Jul 06:00 PM
Whanganui Chronicle

‘Everyone went silent’: Whanganui Youth MP speaks in Parliament

11 Jul 05:00 PM
Opinion

Shelley Loader: How we can all get a share of the apples

11 Jul 05:00 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

RSA 'alive and well' despite premises closure

RSA 'alive and well' despite premises closure

11 Jul 06:00 PM

Former members are 'more than welcome' to return, RSA Welfare Trust president says.

‘Everyone went silent’: Whanganui Youth MP speaks in Parliament

‘Everyone went silent’: Whanganui Youth MP speaks in Parliament

11 Jul 05:00 PM
Major Joanna Margaret Paul exhibition opens

Major Joanna Margaret Paul exhibition opens

11 Jul 05:00 PM
Shelley Loader: How we can all get a share of the apples

Shelley Loader: How we can all get a share of the apples

11 Jul 05:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP