Committee recommends establishing waste joint venture

The first step has been taken in how rubbish in the Waitaki district will be disposed of after the Oamaru landfill closes in 2016.

Yesterday, the Waitaki District Council's assets committee recommended the council establish a joint venture with a private partner to build an Oamaru waste transfer station and determine where waste would be disposed of.

Establishing a new landfill at a cost of up to $15 million was seen as too expensive. Another option was to transport the waste to landfills outside the district, although it was suggested a local contractor could be looking at establishing a landfill within the district.

''This enables us to move forward. We have not made any commitments at this stage - it's the beginning of the a big process,'' Cr Jim Hopkins emphasised.

While some councillors had concerns about the proposal, including the fact it was light on financial details, the committee recommended a request for proposals from private waste operators be prepared and a selection panel be appointed to consider criteria for selecting a joint-venture partner, evaluate proposals and make a recommendation.

That will be discussed by the assets committee and a final decision will be made by the council.

Waste services and waste manager Martin Pacey said a business case investigated eight options and selected the joint venture as the best.

It also established 10 criteria for evaluating proposals.

These included a provision that the Waitaki Resource Recovery Trust, which operated the Waitaki Resource Recovery Park recycling centre in Oamaru, must be included.

Trust manager Marian Shore was at the meeting and told the committee the trust was ''pretty happy'' with the process.

It was investigating all options about being involved, including being part of the joint venture.

Cr June Slee was concerned about where waste would be sent to outside landfills, how much that would cost, the lack of financial detail and the impact on ratepayers.

She felt the proposal should go no further until they were resolved.

Assets group manager Neil Jorgensen said issues of cost would not be resolved until options were considered under the joint-venture negotiations.

Cr Hugh Perkins feared that if the council decided to go with the ''largest and dominant'' waste company (Transpacific), competition in the private sector for waste collection, recycling and disposal could ''evaporate''.

Cr Hopkins' main concern was to ensure the disposal of meat waste from Alliance Group's Pukeuri plant and the Lean Meats plant remained affordable.

Meat waste made up 1500 tonnes of a total of 8260 tonnes disposed of in the Oamaru landfill. He believed the meat waste had to be ''a high priority''.

The committee proposed Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher and Crs Perkins and Kathy Dennison be on the selection panel, along with Mr Pacey and Mr Jorgensen.

david.bruce@odt.co.nz