The Zero Waste Network Aotearoa (ZWN) and community groups opposing  incinerators and waste-to-energy will be demonstrating outside of the Local Government New Zealand Conference in Palmerston North against the building of new waste incinerators and for a zero waste future on Thursday 21 July from 8.00-9.00 am and again from 11.30 am-1.00 pm when Minister David Parker is speaking. 

“We are putting local government elected officials and the Minister for the Environment on notice that these incinerator and ‘waste-to-energy’  proposals threaten all our efforts at waste minimisation and close the door to a zero waste  future for Aotearoa,” said ZWN spokesperson Dorte Wray. 

“Waste incinerators create a market for more waste. They lock Councils into long term contracts to provide continual streams of waste. We have waste and climate emergencies so we need to use our collective resources to stop creating waste by using better systems and design, not spending millions to build infrastructure that burns valuable resources and pollutes.” 

“Incinerators compound our existing waste problems. Incinerators knowingly create hazardous waste where none existed in the feedstock (mixed solid waste). The toxic ash that remains has to be landfilled, the carbon emissions add to climate change, and the heavy metals and cancer-causing dioxins are released into the air, water and land.”

“Communities rely on local governments’ decision making to protect their futures and not to act purely on the basis of short term economic growth. Mayors will change, councils will change, businesses will come and go. What doesn’t change is who pays the price for poor decision making – the community,” said Robert Ireland, spokesperson for Why Waste Waimate (South Canterbury).

“Incinerators are a false solution and out of step with current central government direction and do not fit with current policies locally, nationally or globally” said Feilding Against Incineration spokesperson Ellieda Komene.

“Importing waste will denigrate the mana of community environments and ultimately human health. Replacing destructive technologies with regenerative systems which uphold Māori sovereignty, support localised solutions and restore our relationships with Ranginui and Papatūānuku me ā rāua uri is what we urgently need. Ka ora te whenua, ka ora te tangata – when the land is well the people are well. “ said Dale-Maree Morgan spokesperson for Don’t Burn Waipā.

 

Background information:

• There are three current proposals for waste-to-energy incinerators in Aotearoa New Zealand. These proposals are located in Feilding, Waimate and Te Awamutu. You can find further information on each of these proposals along with extensive links to media stories and background information on incineration on the Zero Waste Network page here.
• The Feilding proposal is the most advanced with resource consent hearings being held at the same time as the Local Government New Zealand Conference. The Feilding proposal is for waste pyrolysis, a technical process that is defined as incineration by the European Union and US Environmental Protection Agency because waste is heated to a high temperature to extract gas and oil which is subsequently burned.
• Resource Consent applications have been filed for the Te Awamutu project, but no decision has yet been made as the Waipā District Council and Waikato Regional Council seek more information on the proposal. 
• The Waimate project has a long history,  having been initiated on the West Coast of the South Island before moving to South Canterbury, and is the largest proposal seeking to take 350,000 tonnes/year of waste but no resource consents have yet been sought by the company.
• The Zero Waste Network is made up of over 100 community organisations, projects and businesses working for zero waste. Our members are doing incredible stuff across the country diverting thousands of tonnes of waste from landfills every year and building new business models based on a sustainable circular economy.