THE LOCATION
Given that 71% of the waste comes mainly from Christchurch, Oceania Dairy—the only nearby industry—and Kiwirail have no agreements in place; the question naturally arises: What makes Waimate the perfect location?
Scrutinising the company’s history, it becomes evident that Waimate wasn’t the company’s first choice, not even its second choice. Failed W-t-E plant proposals in Westport and Hokitika and a consent application to store hundreds of thousands of tonnes of waste in Reefton highlight this company’s strategy of targeting small towns with limited resources for resistance.
Like Westport and Hokitika before him. Waimate mayor Craig Rowley and senior WDC staff have shown a level of support for this proposal.
It appears that when selecting locations for these proposals, the company prioritises securing council support over the actual logistical location. This raises questions about the company’s decision-making process and the validity of these proposals.
THE SITE
The site chosen for Project Kea is a 15-hectare area of farmland on the corner of Carroll’s Road and Morven/Glenavy Road. The site is approximately 2.5 km from a school within the Glenavy township, with prevailing NE winds taking any emissions directly over the school and town. In April 2022 following approval by Waimate District Council, Murphy Farming Limited subdivided approximately 20 hectares of farmland into two lots. The same month Murphy Farming announced a sale agreement with SIRRL to purchase the 14.85 hectare lot to build a waste-to-energy plant. The agreement was supposedly subject to SIRRL obtaining resource consent to build and operate the plant, and Overseas Investment Office (OIO) approval to purchase the land.
OIO APPROVAL
Twelve months later, in April 2023, SIRRL applied to the OIO for approval to purchase the 14.85 hectares of farmland. At the same time, SIRRL applied to acquire significant business assets, being that SIRRL is 60% Chinese owned. This application came two years after SIRRL was added to the NZ companies register, establishing them as a New Zealand business.
In March 2024, the OIO approved SIRRL’s application to acquire sensitive land and significant business assets, with final approval from LINZ Minister Chris Penk, Associate Finance Minister David Seymour, and Finance Minister Nicola Willis.
Willis not only deemed that the investment was not contrary to New Zealand’s national interests despite clear evidence provided to her by the Ministry for Environment that the investment carried a “Medium Risk” to Government policy and was contrary to New Zealand’s international commitments. The Minister also removed a condition included by LINZ that the company only source waste fuel for the proposed plant from within the South Island, effectively leaving the option open for the importation of waste, something the company had pursued in previous proposals. Minister Willis was asked why she removed this condition, she responded that the Environment Court was the best place to determine those conditions. However, the Minister left other environmental conditions on the consent.
WASTE
With a proposal to burn 365,000 tonnes of waste each year, SIRRL is reliant on securing a significant chunk of the South Island’s available waste. But how is that attainable given that the waste is already spoken for and not readily available? The vast amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) in the South Island is collected and disposed of by waste management companies contracted to councils throughout the South Island. The Two largest companies, Waste Management NZ (WMNZ) and Envirowaste have stated publicly that they have no agreements to provide waste to any waste-to-energy facility in NZ. WMNZ have said they will not support the Waimate proposal and have explored the W-t-E incineration option in the past and found it unviable. South Island’s 22 councils have all been asked if they have communicated with SIRRL about acquiring waste for a waste-to-energy plant in Waimate. With the exception of Marlborough District Council who have refused to answer, no other council has acknowledged having these discussions with SIRRL.
JOBS
South Island Resource Recovery Limited (SIRRL) has stated that Project Kea will employ 100 staff. Then there’s talk of providing another 200 jobs, with the possibility of adjacent glasshouses. Waimate is struggling to fill available positions now. Where are these staff going to come from?
FIRE RISK
Storing upwards of 50,000 tonnes of waste on-site, along with 100,000 litres of diesel and numerous other hazardous substances, poses a severe fire risk. The potential for disaster is evident in the fact that just one incorrectly disposed vape battery could ignite a blaze that Waimate, with its limited resources, would struggle to contain. The district would likely not recover from the effects of such a disaster. Fire outbreaks at incineration plants are common, with many being handled internally. However, there are numerous instances where major fires have led to significant damage, environmental catastrophe, and loss of life. Despite these risks, waste-to-energy proponents persist in their claims that these plants are safe.
ASH
One of the by-products of incineration is residual ash. The amount of waste you burn in weight returns around 25-30% of that weight in ash.
South Island Resource Recovery Limited proposes to burn 365,000 tonnes of waste annually and provide a figure of 100,000 tonnes of ash annually. At that figure, Project Kea’s proposed 35-year life will yield 3.5 million tonnes of ash. That’s a lot of ash that needs disposal. Put into perspective, Waimate sent 672 tonnes of waste to landfill in 2022.
What does SIRRL’s resource consent application propose to do with this toxic ash? the answer is bury it. But where? The company refuse to disclose this information.
HEALTH CONCERNS
Waste contains toxic and hazardous material, including large amounts of plastic. Burning waste releases toxic emissions; you can’t escape them. If you put toxic material in, you get toxic material coming out regardless of pollution control technology. Incinerating waste even creates pollutants that didn’t exist in the original waste. These toxins, including dioxins, furans, heavy metals, particulates, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), are all known to be very dangerous to human and environmental health.
ELECTRICITY
Project Kea’s $350 million price tag is said to produce 20- 30MW of electricity.
By 2020, New Zealand had a electricity generating capacity of 9758MW. In this context, Project Kea’s anticipated addition of 20-30MW of electricity would constitute a mere 0.3% of this figure.
By way of comparison, The Waipipi wind farm in South Taranaki, with a similar investment of $325 million, boasts an electricity capacity of 133 MW, a significant 5–7 times the energy output of Project Kea. This stark contrast in efficiency should raise concerns about the viability of Project Kea.
For Project Kea to match the electricity output of the Waipipi wind farm, it would need to incinerate approximately 1.8–2.5 million tonnes of waste, resulting in up to 3 million tonnes of equivalent CO2 emissions. This starkly contrasts with the zero CO2 output of the wind farm, highlighting the significant disparity in energy generation potential.
Despite the industry’s claims, the energy from the incinerator is not truly renewable. The majority of the power generated in an incinerator comes from high-calorific value waste, including plastic, effectively making it a fossil-derived energy generator. This practice of claiming such energy as renewable is not only misleading but also underscores the lack of integrity in the Waste-to-Energy industry, prompting stakeholders to approach such claims with caution and skepticism.
Figures show that municipal solid waste incineration produces between 700g – 1.2kg of CO2 emissions per 1kg of waste.
The UK Environment Agency asked companies to start including CO2 information based on continuous monitoring in their annual performance reports. OpenDemocracy and the UK Without Incineration Network (UKWIN) have analyzed this data and found that the average UK incinerator produces more than twice as much CO2 per unit of electricity as gas-fired power plants, and some have a higher carbon intensity than coal plants.
Project Kea’s annual incineration of 365,000 tonnes of waste will result in a substantial environmental cost. This process is estimated to produce a staggering 438,000 kg of CO2 annually, equivalent to an extra 100,000 cars on the road.