Posted
24th May 2001
Waikato
Greens Reject Megadump The Waikato Province of the Green Party
has announced it cannot support the proposed Hampton Downs megadump
at Whangamarino in its present form, citing environmental and
cultural concerns. This may seem an obvious thing for the Greens
to do, but strangely enough there are influential Greens in
the Auckland are who support the megadump, so this statement
may foreshadow a bit of a struggle within the Auckland region
of the Greens for unity over this highly significant issue of
waste policy and action. While recognising that waste has to
be dealt with somewhere, the local party has resolved that it
needs to be satisfied that any proposed waste disposal projects
are environmentally safe, culturally acceptable, and part of
a longer-term strategy of waste minimisation.
Local
Green MP and spokesperson for the Waikato Greens, Nandor Tanczos,
said the Waikato Greens would like to see landfill operators
required to co-operate with all efforts to reduce, and eventually
end, the flow of waste into landfills. "Waste reduction can
be achieved by households separating their rubbish into separate
waste flows - most rubbish can be recycled or composted - and
by thinking about the amount of waste they produce. "This is
the key to solving our waste problem. Simply building more landfills
is not. The Greens have a commitment to waste minimisation and
to seeing New Zealand move towards a system whereby we reuse,
recycle, reduce and recover all our waste." Mr Tanczos said
that significant cultural issues, which could not be ignored,
surround the proposal. Eight iwi and hapu groups have joined
the appeal against the superdump in Environment Court. Mr Tanczos
said the proposed site is also of considerable general historical
significance. A recently opened riverside walkway connects the
New Zealand Wars Pa sites at Meremere and Rangiriri.
The
environmental concerns cited include the effect of noise and
smell on the surrounding area, as operators are applying for
consents to dump 400 truckloads of rubbish per day, commencing
at 6am six days per week, at the site. The Waikato Greens also
have questions about how leachate, the liquid that discharges
from dumps, will be safely managed. This is of particular concern
due to close proximity of the site to the flood plain of the
Waikato river upstream from the proposed Auckland waterpipe,
and to wetlands. The proposed superdump, if approved, will be
the largest in New Zealand. It is designed to be 75 metres high
- substantially higher than Hamilton's tallest buildings - and
a square kilometre in area. The Enviroment Court hearing in
Hamilton is due to end in June.
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