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Waitaki electorate candidates (left to right and top to bottom); Miles Anderson (National), Ethan Reille (Labour), Roger Small (Democracy NZ), Sean Beamish (ACT), Pleasance Hansen (Green), Ray Bailey (NZ Loyal). All the candidates, except Ray Bailey, who was not present, were asked to answer yes or no to whether they supported the Project Kea proposal. Act’s Sean Beamish stated that he hadn’t heard of the proposal and, therefore, could not provide comment. Miles Anderson (National), Ethan Reille (Labour), Roger Small (Democracy NZ) and Pleasance Hansen (Green) all voiced their opposition to the Project Kea proposal, indicating a consensus against it.

REL managing director Paul Taylor tries to secure a heads-of-agreement between Timaru District Council and baling contractor ERP Group to store 50,000 – 70,000 tonnes of waste at Redruth landfill for the proposed W-t-E incinerator in Waimate. The agreement states, “Renew Energy will be independently responsible for supplying 350,000 tonnes of waste per annum to the plant.”  This agreement shows how Renew Energy will be responsible for supplying the waste and their intention to continue to partner with ERP Group, despite the company’s poor waste management practices, which ultimately resulted in ERP Group owner Michael Corcoran, moving to Australia and leaving his landlords with thousands of tonnes of baled waste, destined for the proposed ‘Project Kea’ incinerator in Waimate. The cleanup of the illegally stored waste Corcoran left behind was reported to cost several million dollars. Read the heads of agreement request and response by Timaru District Council below. Heads of Agreement More on ERP Group and their involvement with REL, below. ERP GROUP

“There was an estimated 1,800,965 tonnes of waste in the South Island that went to class 1 and 2 landfills and farm dumps in 2021, much of which could have instead gone to an Energy from Waste plant. Project Kea will look to secure approximately 20% (or 365,000 tonnes) of that volume.” – Paul Taylor, SIRRL. Class 2 landfills are used to dispose of construction and demolition fills, a large quantity of which is rubble, providing no calorific value. Farm dumps are essentially private landfills. For SIRRL to gain access to those volumes, the company would need to collect waste from every farm site on South Island, which is not plausible. Claiming 1.8 million tonnes of available waste material in the South Island could be put through a Waste incinerator is misleading. Also, claiming that you require only 20% of that volume distorts the truth even further. For more on SIRRL’s waste projections see below. More on Waste

“The company has agreements with waste contractors “such as Waste Management, Envirowaste and Ecowaste, but for commercial reasons, we can’t really talk about it.” – Paul Taylor, SIRRL.   However, Waste Management, the country’s largest waste management company, holds contracts for approximately a third of the South Island’s waste. Evan Maehl, its managing director, asserts that the company has no agreements or understanding with SIRRL and would not be a supplier for the proposed waste-to-energy incinerator. Enviro NZ, the country’s second-largest waste management company, formerly known as EnviroWaste, has made its stance clear. It has no agreement or understanding with any proposed waste-to-energy incinerator. Read full North & South article below. N&S Article

In a North & South article titled ‘A Burning Question,’ Reporter George Driver asked SIRRL director Paul Taylor about links between SIRRL and the Chinese government; Taylor said, “They’re a large public company, so I’m not sure whether they’re linked.” China Tianying (CNTY) comprises 41% of South Island Resource Recovery Limited (SIRRL). CNTY also owns EUZY, which owns a further 19% of SIRRL.  This is hard to believe, considering Paul Taylor has been closely involved with CNTY on three previous Waste to Energy proposals. Read full N&S article here Chinese government ownership CECEP Huayu Fund Management Co. Ltd China Asset Management Co. Ltd Combined these two Chinese Government owned companies have a shareholding of over 10% of CNTY. More on CNTY below. CNTY