Mayoral candidate Craig Lord will lobby for support to build a Waste to Energy plant in Auckland if elected into office this year.

With more than 200,000 tonnes of rubbish going into Auckland based landfills annually, and Chinese owned Waste Management with Auckland Council support simply wanting to dig more holes to bury the problem, he says it is time to change the script.

“There are hundreds of WTE Plants spread around the globe. Asia has them, the US does, Australia is building, and in Europe combined they output more than 4.7 Gigawatts of municipal energy. We’re meant to be a green country and we are holding ourselves back – that’s embarrassing. Sweden is now so efficient they recycle 99% of their refuse. That means only 1% goes into the ground while 99% is recycled into energy or roads and other products.”

Lord believes it is easily doable and with less emissions from a plant than from a landfill, the project would be backed by the majority of Aucklanders.

“It’s going to cost between $400 and $800 million to build depending on the finished design and that is quite feasible. If the city can’t do it then a private enterprise can. They can build it, and make their profits, but of course with systems in place to make sure they are not going to overcharge the city for the services or the power that comes from it. It can and should be done. In fact, it will be. By us or someone else.”

He is adamant that the current mindset of ‘collect and forget’ by the population can be changed if they see a purpose.

“Right now, we throw and disregard because we don’t see any other option. Let’s make an option. Let’s create something so fantastic that people will be picking up rubbish from the streets, the streams, the beaches and oceans just so it can be thrown into our very own Waste to Energy plant.”

He says if it’s designed right it could have extra benefits than just a disposal and energy building.

“Zero Waste is a fallacy so let’s think outside of the box here. Climate change is on everyone's mind, but it’s more than just public transport and cycle lanes. This is no longer a vision around the world - this is happening. Call it what you will, the main point is that we need to build one and we need to do it now.”

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