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Consultation by Waste Management NZ (WM) on what should be done with Auckland’s rubbish once its Redvale landfill consent ends in 2028 has been branded a box-ticking exercise.
Since March, WM has been promulgating the idea that the lifespan of its Dairy Flat landfill needs to be extended to 2036, due to its plans for a huge new regional tip in the Dome Valley being delayed, as residents, community groups, iwi, environmental organisations and the Department of Conservation oppose the move through the courts.
The waste giant said there were four options – finding extra space in existing landfills, creating a new landfill, alternative technologies, or increasing recovery – and, after asking for public feedback, said last week the first option was the most workable and Redvale the most practicable.
Rodney Local Board member for Dairy Flat Louise Johnston said she was gob-smacked when she heard about the consultation and its implications for Redvale.
“This consultation was not a formal Resource Management Act process and in my view was just a box-ticking exercise for WM,” she said. “I imagine that the resource consent application for the extension is ready to go and will be lodged in June, no doubt via the new Fast-track approvals process.”
Johnston said it was a huge blow for Dairy Flat residents and criticised WM for a lack of transparency over the years, even in its own quarterly community liaison committee meetings.
“WM representatives on the committee have been discussing the promised closure in 2028 for years now and they have always claimed that they would be a good neighbour, with a no surprises policy,” she said.
However, she said recent peer review reports for the last three-and-a-half years had proved otherwise.
“These reports were alarming. I was shocked to read about fires at the landfill, landslips, leachate outbreaks, chemicals in sediment ponds exceeding allowed limits, outbreaks of dangerous gases, and the list goes on,” she said. “None of these issues were discussed in our quarterly meetings, so we couldn’t ask questions about what we didn’t know.
“I had not realised how bad things were with the landfill and odour; they [neighbours] simply had stopped complaining because they did not think that anyone was listening.”
WM said it acknowledged the strength of feeling among some community members and was engaging an independent consultant to meet directly with those affected.
