18 July 2011

Recovery park to sort earthquake waste

Christchurch City Council today agreed to push ahead with plans to make the Burwood Resource Recovery Park fully operational by seeking a special order through Central Government to streamline the process.

Recent earthquakes have created unprecedented amounts of construction and demolition waste in the city and this sorting yard has been set up to process and recycle this material.

The site in use at the old Burwood Landfill and Bottle Lake Forest Park was initially set up under the authority of the National Controller during the emergency. This was done under urgency, to provide a safe place for rubble to be sent while search and rescue operations were underway. It also made economic and environmental sense to set up this facility to ensure waste was not sent to landfill unnecessarily, or dumped illegally.

The Council on 31 March 2011 agreed to the establishment of the Burwood Resource Recovery Park for the sorting and recycling of the estimated four million tonnes of rubble from earthquake-damaged commercial and residential buildings. To put this volume of waste in perspective: Kate Valley, the region's landfill, on average would receive just 250,000 tonnes of waste every year.

Christchurch City Council Water and Waste Manager Mark Christison says it was hugely important for the city that this facility was made available soon after the 22 February earthquake.

"We needed somewhere to put all this debris, so that search and rescue teams could get on with the business of saving lives.

"We also needed to make sure that there was a safe place for the rubble created by the demolition of dozens of buildings in the initial weeks following the quake. We did not want this waste to be left in the Central City, or worse, dumped in paddocks or on riverbeds."

Mr Christison says the Burwood site was made available to Transpacific Industries to develop and operate the sorting area in the days following the 22 February earthquake. Under Civil Defence approvals work on access roads and security fencing was completed to ensure the site could be safely operated early after the earthquake on 22 February.

"The Council, working with the National Controller's office, Ministry for the Environment staff and Environment Canterbury, considered the recovery park provided a good way forward for the city, as the contractor would take on the financial and operational risks involved in operating the facility. The contractor is required to return the site to its pre-4 September condition on completion of activity at the site.

"Traditionally, the sorting of construction and demolition waste is considered a high-risk business because of the large costs involved to the contractor and there aren't that many businesses that can do it on this scale. It was a big positive for the city that we could find a contractor to step up and take on this job at short notice during the emergency as there is no way our current infrastructure could handle this level of waste. It was imperative that a robust system was put in place as quickly as possible." The Council agreed at a meeting this morning it would continue the process of seeking an Order in Council from the Government to allow this sorting facility to operate under streamlined resource consent processes so that the waste can be sorted in a timely manner for recycling, reuse or disposal.

Mr Christison says the Office of the Auditor General has audited the business model used by the contractor. The feedback received by Council is that the rates being charged represent a fair return to a contractor undertaking this type of business risk.

Background

Canterbury's regional landfill, Kate Valley, receives an average of 250,000 tonnes of waste each year.

Currently earthquake demolition waste received at Burwood Resource Recovery Park:

* 200 - 300 trucks a day each carrying approximately 25 tonnes of waste.

* This equates to 5000 - 7500 tonnes of construction and demolition waste being received each day.

Estimated total demolition waste created by the 22 February earthquake:

* Central Business District - two million tonnes.

* Residential and suburban commercial zones - two million tonnes.

* Repair of roads and water and sewer pipes - four million tonnes.

* Sand and silt collected from streets and properties - 500,000 tonnes.

ENDS

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