March organiser Angie Barrowcliffe and Ethan Moir. Photo: Jeremy Smith
The company planning a Waipā waste to energy plant is talking up Māori links, conservation, sustainability, cleaning up landfills and teaching recycling.
But opponents say the proposed Paewira plant for Te Awamutu will poison residents, pollute the environment and cause social and economic harm.
The chalk and cheese pictures painted of the plant have come to the fore strongly in the last week as the deadline for submission on a resource consent applications looms.
By tomorrow afternoon the last submissions on the plant will be with the Waikato Regional Council and Waipā District Council.
Commissioners will then be asked to consider whether or not they should give Global Contracting Solutions the go ahead to build an incinerator at 401 Racecourse Rd, Te Awamutu.
The company says it would process 150,000 tonnes of waste each year and recover 80 tonnes of recyclable materials every day. It would generate enough energy to power 15,000 homes.
At the council building.
Opponents say the process will increase pollution.
The plant would also see 185 “vehicle movements” – 25 of them heavy vehicles – each day.
Opponents say that’s beyond the capability of the present road.
The company has cited examples like Vienna’s Pfaffenau Waste Incineration Plant in Austria, saying it converts 250,000 tonnes of waste into energy annually.
Opponents say incineration is not the answer – zero waste is.
The company says it would use a “proven technology” called thermal waste conversion to incinerate waste material.
Te Awamutu and Kihikihi Community Board members have heard from a retired professor of chemistry in the UK saying that from an environmental and health perspective incineration was a bad and risky idea for the Te Awamutu community.
On Sunday the opposition to the plant was evident as protesters marched in Te Awamutu.
Protesters have questioned the time frame for submissions about a proposed waste to energy plant in Te Awamutu, saying many people are just finding out about it.
They walked from Arawata St down Alexandra St to Waipā District Council’s Bank St offices and back. They carried signs which – among others – read “ban the burn”, “God recycles, the devil burns”, “Waste of energy” and “Don’t turn Rosetown into Garbagetown”. Chants of “two, four, six, eight… we will not incinerate,” were heard throughout.
Lobby group Don’t Burn Waipa committee member and march organiser Angie Barrowcliffe told The News many residents were only just finding out about the proposal.
Days earlier, the company behind the waste to energy plan said it was using proven technology – and its majority shareholder called it a bold stride towards environmental restoration
Global Contracting Solutions said waste minimisation, recycling and resource recovery was nothing new to Craig Tuhoro and “his proudly Māori owned and whānau-run company, Global Metal Solutions”.
It said Tuhoro wanted to ensure people completely understood the concept and reasoning behind Paewira before making any decisions – “whether they’re for or against the proposal”.
“At GMS, we send approximately 18,000 tonnes of floc (a waste product produced by the scrap metal recycling process) to landfill each year,” Tuhoro said. “That’s too much, so I began searching for a solution. That’s how I came across thermal waste conversion – a successfully used process across Europe,” he said.
“I realised how we could apply the technology to mitigate floc disposal and aid our growing waste disposal issues in Aotearoa. It was a wow moment.”
He said the initiative was not merely about waste management, it was a “bold stride towards environmental restoration”.
The company says it will create 60 new jobs, beyond the people required to build the factory.
Marching down Alexandra Street, Te Awamutu.
