The Waitaki District Council’s assets committee will vote on funding the proposed $285,000 redevelopment of the Waitaki Resource Recovery Trust’s Chelmer St, Oamaru, resource recovery park at this week’s committee meeting.
And the council’s assets group manager Neil Jorgensen said with the closure of the Oamaru landfill and the opening of a new privately-owned waste transfer station, expected in February 2017, with an "extra step in the operation", the cost of doing business for waste service providers would increase, and the costs were expected to be passed on to users.
"Fees will go up because the council landfill is closing so [refuse] will need to be transported to another facility," he said.
"There will need to be transport fees put in."
The council could not influence the fees charged by either the trust or the transfer station owner, Waste Management Ltd, at their facilities, but the council expected the fees to be similar to those at the operational transfer stations in Timaru or Christchurch, he said.
"Enhancing the community experience" was cited among the reasons for the council’s assets officers’ endorsement of the one-off funding in the report to be tabled on Wednesday.
Health and safety issues were cited, as well, as was the general "deterioration" of the current recycling centre.
The Timaru District Council three-bin kerbside collection system appears to divert roughly 75% of the district waste stream from landfills, which is consistent with internationally accepted achievable targets, a complementary report to the committee shows.
With a full half of Timaru’s waste collection green waste, a quarter recycling, and a quarter residual, the district’s waste diversion appears to be better than that in Waitaki district, where only 46% of waste is diverted from the landfill.
Of the waste stream: 54% of waste is residual, or destined for the landfill; 14% of waste is green waste; and 32% of the waste stream is recycling.
The council funds the trust with an annual operational grant of $220,000, plus $10,000 for site maintenance and an equivalent $40,000 for land rental.
