In its annual report on the Levin Landfill consent compliance, Horizons Regional Council stated that Horowhenua District Council has met all but three of over 240 conditions of its resource consents.

“There are over 240 conditions associated with the landfill’s five consents, not including sub-conditions, and only three are non-compliant, two of which were due to the same administration error,” said Environmental Engineer Ryan Hughes.

“The only significant issue was odour, and we have been working hard to resolve them. Council has implemented many improvements that include commissioning a state-of-the-art gas flare and building a new biofilter to prevent a reoccurrence. Both of these were designed for the site and, in also significantly reduce Horowhenua’s impact on climate change.

“The last verified odour incident was in September 2017. There have been some complaints since then, however these were unable to be verified by the regional council. We still treat these complaints as genuine and continue to investigate possible explanations.”

Deputy Mayor Wayne Bishop said the work carried out by Council will help prevent issues in the future.

“There is a lot of misinformation out there about the landfill and I hope this report by Horizons will put an end to that speculation,” said Deputy Mayor Bishop.

“Horowhenua District Council takes its responsibilities very seriously and works extremely hard to meet the consent conditions for the sake of all residents, particularly those who live near the landfill, and to protect our environment.”

Mr Hughes said well-designed and maintained landfills are an essential part of modern life. “The less waste generated, the fewer issues we will have. So, we encourage residents to minimise waste, and to re-use, recycle and compost to reduce pressure on our landfill.”

This year, as part of the Waste Minimisation and Management Plan, Council is rolling out a series of changes to its recycling services.

“We’ll announce more details in spring. The new service will be similar to that provided in Auckland, Wellington and Palmerston North and will reach nearly 95% of residents, meaning Horowhenua is better at recycling services compared to our neighbours across the Horizons region,” said Mr Hughes.

“We offer improved recycling services at a much cheaper rate by cost savings from having our landfill.”

A series of workshops to help residents reduce their waste were held recently, and more are coming. More than 70 people attended The Rubbish Trip – Zero Waste talk in July and the upcoming Kate Meads Zero Waste Living workshop is sold out. In October, a Kate Meads Zero Waste Parenting workshop will be held and is also expected to sell out.

“Our community is interested in how to live with less waste and Council will continue to support them to reduce waste to landfill,” said Mr Hughes.

The compliance report made several recommendations on the five consents applying to the landfill. These were mostly around documentation and monitoring, so Horowhenua District Council can demonstrate compliance with the consents.

ENDS

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