Baldock: Landfill move a step backwards

The announcement yesterday that Southland District Council's first Private-Public Partnership (PPP) would be $100 million landfill contract is not something we should be celebrating, United Future environment spokesman Larry Baldock said today.

"The PPP initiative can be applauded, but returning to solving our waste problems by filling large holes in the ground is not exactly progressive," Mr Baldock said.

"The Government is already under pressure to meet its Kyoto greenhouse gas emissions targets and the idea that for the next 35 years, Southlanders will simply be burying their waste, is rather counter-productive.

"Instead of taxing farmers for their cows' flatulence, the Government may have to look at levies on landfills, which are environmentally unsound for many reasons, including the fact that they produce serious amounts of methane," he said.

"There are technological opportunities for dealing with our solid waste that have huge environmental benefits, and the potential to use waste for power generation.

"We need to be looking into these instead of just looking for more and more large holes around the country," Mr Baldock said.

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