Exporting waste out of the city has been largely discounted by the council as a long-term option, but a leading contender to receive municipal waste - AB Lime in Winton, Southland - had apparently been unable to make the case.
Its general manager made references at a council hearing last week to being "gagged".
The council’s preferred option in its 2025-34 draft long-term plan is to continue using the Green Island landfill until a planned and consented $92.4m landfill at Smooth Hill is ready in about 2030.
AB Lime general manager Steve Smith was the final speaker at last week’s hearing, taking the unusual step of talking to councillors directly in an open meeting.
"The reality is we’ve kind of been silenced or gagged through this whole Smooth Hill-Green Island process," he said.
Mr Smith noted discussions with senior council staff were done on a confidential basis.
He then said he had sent a couple of emails to the Otago Regional Council relating to consenting processes to ensure AB Lime’s information was correct.
"I received back emails of disappointment from DCC staff for actually getting involved in that process."
Mr Smith said he was copied in on "cease and desist-type letters" from lawyers for the council, Anderson Lloyd: "So that’s some pretty scary stuff.
"All of my invites to council staff and the mayor himself and the councillors have sort of been knocked back at this stage, or graciously declined."
Concerning consultancy Morrison Low, which carried out an options analysis for the council, Mr Smith said "they’ve actually never spoken to us".
He also noted significant amounts of content provided to councillors were redacted when some information was released to the public.
Mr Smith acknowledged he had a vested interest in the landfill not going ahead.
Smooth Hill had been a hot topic at the hearing.
City businessmen Allan Dippie and Andrew Simms - Mr Simms also being a mayoral candidate - had clashed on the subject in dramatic fashion, leading to lively emails between them being disclosed.
Points by Mr Dippie, a Smooth Hill supporter, included that landfill operators would rather not have a strong competitor in the vicinity and he said a new landfill would be a fantastic asset for Dunedin.
Mr Simms has called Smooth Hill an unnecessary capital spend that would add to council debt.
Mr Smith described Smooth Hill as a gamble with ratepayers’ money and said trucking waste to Winton was a less risky option.
"Building Smooth Hill just locks you into a plan that I don’t believe is fiscally prudent."
Council staff had concluded exporting waste out of Dunedin was "not economically favourable when compared with the option of building Smooth Hill". Exporting would also reduce the council’s level of control over its waste.
Cr Jim O’Malley asked if building Smooth Hill would lead to AB Lime looking to compete with the council facility.
"I think we have to," Mr Smith said. "The reality is you’re talking about spending an astronomical amount of money."
He also referred to gate prices for the council’s existing Green Island facility.
"Based on your fees and charges for the 2025-26 year, and based on our own, the landfill gate price at AB Lime is going to be $71 lower than Green Island."
Grey Power Otago president Jo Millar said last week she wanted the council to provide clear information about how much money would be saved by proceeding with Smooth Hill.
Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich said this would be done.
