Councils unite in action to tackle Spicer Landfill smell

Wellington City, Porirua City, and Greater Wellington Regional Councils, with Tawa Community Board members, have pledged to take a joint approach to reduce smells from the Spicer Landfill.

Wellington and Porirua City Councils are partners in a Joint Venture that owns the tip, with Porirua in charge of the tip operation and Greater Wellington Regional Council having a regulatory role.

Councillors and officials met to discuss the odour problems at a joint workshop on Tuesday night after complaints from residents in Tawa and Titahi Bay.

At the meeting the Councillors and Board members committed to work together to get on top of the problem as soon as possible.

“We all understand how unpleasant tip smells must be for residents in Tawa and Porirua and Council staff assure us all possible is being done,” said Porirua Councillor Tim Sheppard, Chair of the Wastewater Treatment Plant And Landfill Joint Committee.

Tawa-based Wellington City Councillor Malcolm Sparrow, a member of the joint committee, said Tawa residents can rest assured that their concerns are being taken seriously and remain a top priority until the problem is fixed.

Tawa Community Board Chair Robert Tredger was pleased the various Councils came together to take a united approach to the problem.

“It’s important for residents to know that this problem will be fixed as soon as physically possible.”

Greater Wellington Deputy Chair and Environment Portfolio Leader Cr Barbara Donaldson said it would support improvement efforts.

“Our Council will support and assist however we can.”

The meeting was provided information about improvements already made and ongoing steps. A key announcement was a combined Porirua City Council-Wellington Water $6 million project to construct a sludge dryer at the Council’s Titahi Bay wastewater treatment plant.

General Manager Asset Management and Operations Peter Bailey said the drying would reduce the volume of sludge waste shipped to the landfill by 80 per cent.

Dryer design would be completed in a few months and then it will take a further two years to procure and construct it.

Other steps already underway included:

• increased depth of clay cover over the filling areas

• extra cover added at the end of each day

• more trees planted on the Tawa boundary

• Two permanent, and two mobile, deodorant spray machines, deployed using information from an on-site weather station

• gas capture wells and flares – these were installed to destroy gas in 2009 and 2012, with additional wells put in in 2013. There are now 22 wells on site.

ENDS

© Scoop Media