About 750 Dunedin businesses are about to hear how they will be affected by major changes to the Dunedin City Council's trade waste system.
The move follows two years' work on the council's trade waste bylaw, which, the council says, will introduce a "new and more equitable funding policy" by spreading the cost now paid by 23 large businesses.
The new system is also expected to help ensure the city's treatment plants can cope with waste levels, and to promote more innovative ways of disposing of waste.
Trade waste is any liquid waste, apart from usual kitchen and toilet waste, produced by a business and sent through the sewerage system.
Some is toxic, and some requires a higher level of treatment to make it safe to be discharged.
Cr Andrew Noone, chairman of the subcommittee that conducted hearings on the issue in 2008, said yesterday the council would contact the businesses in "the very near future" to explain the changes.
A recent report shows 120 companies have been identified as "type A", or "high risk" dischargers, whose waste poses the greatest risk to the council's sewerage system.
They will have to obtain a conditional trade waste consent costing $863 and undergo regular monitoring and sampling.
That fee will be on top of the trade waste charges.
Another 630 are "type B" dischargers, who will require a one-off consent costing $260 and pay an annual fee of $140.
Another 500 discharge waste that creates no greater cost than that of a dwelling, and will pay through normal drainage rates.
Cr Noone said yesterday type A businesses included the likes of Cadbury Confectionery and Graeme Lowe fellmongery.
Type B businesses included everything from petrol stations to dentists.
He said the city needed to protect its sewerage system, as some contaminants could affect both it and the treatment plants.
The council also needed to have a better understanding of what went into the system.
"If we can monitor that, we can have a fairer charging system."
Staff would also work with businesses to help them deal with their waste on site.
For example, companies could take fat used by fish and chip shops and use it to make bio-diesel.
Cr Noone said council staff would contact all type A and B businesses and explain what the new regime would mean to them.
He stressed, though, that the matter had to go through next year's annual plan public consultation process, and businesses with concerns could bring them up at that stage.
