Murf is how Queenstown Lakes district councillors and staff pronounce the truncated word for a material recovery facility (MRF), or a recycling processing plant.
Queenstown’s existing MRF in Glenda Dr was "at the end of life", "beyond its use-by date", held together by "sticking plasters" and at "risk of catastrophic failure", according to councillors and staff.
But where to build a new $70.5 million MRF was still being debated this week by the council’s infrastructure committee during its meeting in Wanaka.
Staff recommended a former private landfill site in Ballantyne Rd was the best option as part of a "hybrid solution" to allay concerns Glenda Dr Murf might have to stop operating and force the council to dump recyclable materials to landfill.
Council officers Sophie Mander and Tony Avery in a report said the recommended solution would keep council options open and allow enough time to assess if Ballantyne Rd was a viable site if the Glenda Dr site had a catastrophic failure and had to stop operating.
However, not everyone favoured Ballantyne Rd site as the best option.
Queenstown developer Dave Henderson this week argued his case for land at Victoria Flats as the best site for a new, regional MRF.
Staff recommendations were "fundamentally flawed" and "deliberately written to exclude our site at Victoria Flats as a potential", he said.
"There has been no engagement with me whatsoever."
He said the Ballantyne Rd site was a 120km round trip from Queenstown, and would mean 18-tonne reticulated trucks would go through the Cromwell Gorge to convey materials.
Also "frustrating" for him was "a significant chunk of material would be coming back from Ballantyne Rd destined for landfill".
He had progressed development at his Victoria Flats site, contracts would be let soon and he was anticipating titles would be available in March or April next year.
Council infrastructure and property manager Tony Avery suggested the committee not deal with Mr Henderson’s issues during the meeting but arrange with staff to meet Mr Henderson to note his concerns.
Three Wanaka councillors who sit on the infrastructure committee also contested the idea Ballantyne Rd should be treated as the preferred site.
They successfully sought a change to staff recommendations to make it clear ongoing site investigations should not exclude other sites, including two in Cromwell.
Cr Smith asked how quickly the district’s recycling problems could be sorted.
Ms Mander said "2030, maybe sooner".
The Queenstown Lakes 10-year plan sets aside a $70.5 million budget for new waste facilities.
Ms Mander outlined the work staff had already done on MRF options, alongside consultants Morrison Low.
A new MRF needed to operate for the next 20 years to cater for the needs of the Queenstown Lakes and Central Otago districts and the commercial sector.
Twelve options had been considered for a new MRF, some of which had previously been considered two years ago; others were new.
"Out-of-district" MRFs include Timaru (no capacity), Dunedin (not yet operational), Waimate (not suitable because it uses incinerators) and Invercargill (no capacity).
By the end of Thursday’s meeting, the committee had established that, among other things, staff would further explore "local and out-of-district" site options.
A procurement strategy would be prepared, detailed carbon assessments would take place and a work on a Ballantyne Rd site master plan would begin.
