A report on the cost of exporting waste out of Dunedin, requested by city councillors more than three years ago has not been prepared, a council spokesman said.
"Our focus has been on the consenting process for the Smooth Hill landfill and the extension of the consents for the Green Island landfill," the spokesman said.
He said councillors would consider a Waste Futures update report that covered "all options, including waste export" as part of the forthcoming long-term plan process.
A draft plan is due to be prepared early next year and deliberations are set down for May.
Cr David Benson-Pope, who called for the waste export report at the council’s August 5, 2020, public-excluded meeting, said he was "surprised" the report had not been prepared "but not bothered, given that Smooth Hill is now consented".
At the closed-door meeting, councillors were informed they had "two key options" in front of them.
The staff report presented that day asked whether councillors wanted to lodge a resource consent application for the controversial plan to build a landfill at Brighton’s Smooth Hill, and whether councillors wanted staff to further investigate the option of exporting waste out of the district.
The staff report that went to councillors at that meeting — only released to the Otago Daily Times this week — indicated a detailed business case on the wider waste system identified 12 wider waste system options.
However, the following three and a-half pages of the report released by the council were redacted, or blacked out, and only the recommended options of exporting waste or proceeding with a landfill at Smooth Hill were made public this week.
Councillors directed staff to lodge the Smooth Hill resource consent application "as soon as reasonably possible".
They were told it would minimise the risk of a gap between the closure of the city’s present Green Island landfill and the opening of one at Smooth Hill.
Only Cr Lee Vandervis voted against.
Councillors then asked staff to further investigate the financial implications of exporting waste out of district.
Only Crs Marie Laufiso and Steve Walker voted against.
"Even if council decides that it is prepared to export waste for a period to bridge any gap, it is important to continue progressing the resource consent applications as there is no guarantee that council would be able to arrange suitable export contracts," the staff report said.
"Lodging the resource consent application may assist negotiations if council wants to pursue an export option."
Cr Benson-Pope said yesterday his concern at the time was "the ethics" of exporting waste.
Despite calling for the report, it was his belief the city should deal with the waste it produced itself and not expect to send it somewhere else, "or in the case of many materials that can be recycled, send it offshore to whomever has the cheap labour to clean up our mess".
Those scenarios raised significant emissions issues, he said.
The concerns led to what was agreed to at the meeting, "but as I say, I think it’s now redundant given the consent is in place".
Yesterday, the council spokesman said councillors had been kept updated as part of the confidential forward work programme, discussed in the non-public part of council meetings.
Consent to operate the Green Island landfill has now expired, but the council is able to use its existing consents while applying for replacement ones.
