Company works on toxic leachate

Bonny Glen Landfill near Marton.

Full treatment of the leachate from Bonny Glen landfill remains more than a year away but partial treatment should be under way this month.

The owners of the landfill near Marton, Midwest Disposals, have been working out how to treat the leachate before it is trucked to the Marton wastewater treatment plant (MWTP).

The leachate is toxic runoff from the landfill and has been partly responsible for the treatment plant's compliance failure in recent years.

Last year the Rangitikei District Council gave Midwest Disposals until June next year to get the leachate up to an acceptable standard.

In a recent letter to the council, which is due to be discussed today by its assets and infrastructure committee, landfill manager Paul Mullinger said partial treatment measures to the leachate should be under way by the middle of this month.

Midwest still hoped to install a molecular separation treatment plant on its site by July next year. "We understand that this plant would remove all contaminants to the point where we believe it would be possible to apply for a discharge consent to discharge through our stormwater system, or use beneficially for dust suppression or cowshed wash-down."

Meanwhile Midwest had been storing leachate to reduce the amount going in to the wastewater system over summer when the plant most struggled to cope.