Te Awamutu waste-to-energy incinerator

UPDATE 7 November 2024

The Environmental Protection Agency has called for submissions into the massive Te Awamutu incinerator. 

This project is quite simply insane: a plan to burn 3 million tyres plus 100,000 tonnes of toxic plastics and scrap metal waste a year in a residential neighbourhood emitting massive amounts of CO2, dioxins and sulphur dioxide. A project the EPA has admitted has “global implications for the climate.” Wow. 

These submissions are due on 18 December. If you already made a submission, this will be included in the process. You can also make a new or additional submission.

UPDATE 26 August 2024

Minister for the Environment Penny Simmonds has called in the resource consent application to build a waste incinerator in Te Awamutu. The Minister announced that the application will be heard by a board of inquiry. Under the Resource Management Act (RMA), the Minister may call in applications that have aroused significant public concern or that are of national significance. Here is the Ministerial Direction to refer the Global Contracting Solutions Ltd resource consent applications to a board of inquiry setting out the Minister’s reasoning. Here is our media statement

The EPA said it was starting the planning and arrangements for a revised submission and hearings process in this article in the Waikato Times. 

The Te Awamutu News and Waikato Times both covered the community response to the announcement.

UPDATE 23 May 2024

The Environmental Protection Agency has now given recommendations to the Minister that the resource consent application is ‘called in’ and they have recommended a Board of Inquiry. The Board was preferred by Iwi as it allows them the ability to appoint a person to hear the application. You can read the EPA’s full advice and other background work here and a report by the Waikato Times here.

UPDATE 12 February 2024

The Waipā District Council has now voted to join the Waikato Regional Council in asking the Minister to call in the application build the incinerator at 401 Racecourse Road. You can read our media statement here. The company, Global Contracting Solutions, has formally indicated it does not oppose or support the call-in, but the Waikato Times reports, “GCS project chairman Roger Wilson said it was “disappointing” the councils had taken this approach.”

We don’t have any timeframe for the Ministerial decision on a call-in.

UPDATE 21 December 2023

Waikato Regional Council sent a letter to Minister for the Environment Penny Simmonds on Friday, asking her to call in the application to build the incinerator so greenhouse gas emissions can be considered. This is good news as the climate impacts of this proposal are huge AND we believe the Environment Court will have a more rigorous investigative process for the application. The Waipā District Council is expected to take a vote in February about whether they also ask the Minister to call in the application; we expect that this is highly likely. The Minister is not obligated to call in the application, but given that the Waimate application has been called in, and this project has at least the same level of significance, it would be strange not to call it in.

Background

Global Contracting Solutions Limited has applied to the Waipā District Council for a land use consent to build a waste-to-energy incinerator at 401 Racecourse Road in Te Awamutu, an area immediately adjacent to planned residential development and is subject to flooding.

  • You can read the application to the Waipā District Council for Land Use Resource consent here.
  • You can read the application for three resource consents for discharge-to-air, for discharge of stormwater to water, and for using cleanfill in a floodplain with the Waikato Regional Council (please note that this is a 700 page PDF – mostly appendices which make it very long). Read the company’s further information provided in response to requests for more information (a so-called “Sec 92A request”)
  • Read the basic background information on this project
  • The area of the site subject to this application is approximately 11ha
  • The incinerator would burn municipal solid waste (78,880 tonnes), plastics (35,058 tonnes), tyres (35,058 tonnes), and flock (the waste material from the metal shredding and separation process) 17,529 tonnes
  • Facility would burn 166,525 tonnes a year equivalent to 456 tonnes a day.
  • Read more about the proposal in this article from the Te Awamutu News: Power from waste – Recycling plant would be a first
  • This is the website for the proposal – almost no information here at the time of writing

The Waikato Times has written that “Significant businesses near the site of a proposed recycling and waste-to-energy plant in Te Awamutu are looking to assess more detail about the proposal.” They also covered the ZWN public meeting, noting “The first public sparks have started to fly over a proposed Te Awamutu recycling and waste-to-energy plant, with environmental groups raising a range of concerns about the burning of waste to generate electricity.” The Te Awamutu News covered our public meeting, and followed up with the company who rejected the idea that their project was a toxic nightmare.

The company is claiming it wants to improve the environment in this article in the Waikato Times.

The company was taken to the Environment Court for noise complaints 2020 by the Waikato Regional Council for regularly exceeding the noise regulations in respect of the operation of its metal shredding business at Frankton, Hamilton.

On 15 June 2022, we wrote to Minister David Parker asking him to call-in this application under the Resource Management Act should the Waipā or Waikato Regional Councils decide not to publicly notify. You can read the letter here, and our media statement about it here.

On September 15, 2022, the Te Awamutu News reported that the company has submitted all the info required by the two councils so they will soon be making a decision about public notification. On 22 September, our very own Liam Prince (aka the Rubbish Trip) made an great case in the Te Awamutu News that “these companies alongside the government should be investing in ways to reduce the production of waste, instead of accepting that waste is unavoidable and then investing millions of dollars to deal with it.”

UPDATE 17 October 2022

We are pleased that the Waipā District Council has announced the land use consent will be publicly notified (a date for this has not yet been announced). We are still waiting on the Waikato Regional Council to announce their decision on notification of the other resource consent notifications. We understand that a joint hearing would be likely.

Update 29 November 2022

In mid-November the Waikato Regional Council announced that the resource consent application to build a waste incinerator in Te Awamutu will be publicly notified. However, the company has asked for a delay in actually notifying the public. We are concerned that this is an attempt to catch the community off-guard during the summer months. Submissions are due 20 working days from the date of notification. We issued a media statement about the public notification and continue to work with our friends at Don’t Burn Waipā on the proposal.

Update 8 December 2022

Minister David Parker responded to our letter regarding the Waimate (South Canterbury) proposal on 6 December saying he is waiting for more information before he makes any decision about calling in the application. He says he will not call in the Te Awamutu application because it has been publicly notified.

Update 23 February 2023

If you haven’t seen the Waipā District Council Consent report of the Notification Decision that was issued, here is a copy. Meanwhile we are just in a holding pattern on this project as the company does not appear to have decided if they will proceed given the public notification. The massive floods from Cyclone Gabrielle and the week-long fire at the Florida incinerator should give anyone cause for concern about this project.

UPDATE 31 August 2023

The resource consent process has now been activated. That means from 15 September until 13 October we have time to put in public submissions opposing the incinerator. Anyone can make a submission. 

We will be working with others to pull together a submission template and a public meeting (around the last week of September, date & time tbc). Please plan to join us. 

Join the Don’t Burn Waipā Facebook group for regular info

UPDATE 22 October 2023

Public submissions to the Waipā District Council and Waikato Regional Council were due on the 13th of October 2023. Over 900 submissions were received by the Waipā District Council the largest ever received on any matter.

The two councils will now read over the submissions. They will also consider whether to request that the application is “called in” by the Minister for the Environment. Given that the Waimate application has been called in, it would seem very strange for local government to “jump ahead” and try to deal with this. We expect all submissions to be made public next week. After that it may be several months before we hear anything further on the application.