Following councillors’ sign-off last month, the first stages of the $92.4 million landfill project will begin later this year with the hunt for a build partner.
Speaking to the Otago Daily Times, Dunedin City Council waste and environmental solutions group manager Chris Henderson said the process over the past seven years had been "incredibly thorough".
"I can hold my hand on heart and say this has honestly been through both a robust decision-making process in council with the elected members and robust consenting process and ... analysis of the options as well."
During hearings on the council’s long-term-plan, several submitters spoke in opposition to the landfill, including the Southern Coast Neighbourhood Society which said the process had not been transparent and had not allowed residents to make a fully informed submission.
Climate and city growth general manager Scott MacLean said the landfill’s publicly notified consent process gave everybody a chance for input.
"We [went] through a very robust, independent resource consent process, so every single member of public had the ability to have a say and some did. Most chose not to," he said.
"You can’t get a more thorough process than that. It was a big and lengthy process."
Mr Henderson said the council’s consent conditions for the landfill included an independent peer review panel reporting to a community liaison group of affected people.
"As we go through the detailed design ... and operational plans for Smooth Hill landfill, that will need to be assessed by the independent panel ... [who] will be able to report back to the community liaison group just to explain exactly how it’s going to work and what’s going to happen.
"The community will be able to take some faith that the people on that review panel ... are not associated with the DCC."
Mr Henderson said Smooth Hill would be a class 1 landfill, a "rare beast" in New Zealand.
"It’s a fully lined landfill so, as opposed to Green Island, Smooth Hill will be designed from day one to fully capture leachate and stormwater for treatment ... prior to getting into the environment.
"You’ve actually got full control of what can actually go into that site."
There was a "large resilience factor" in Dunedin having a local waste disposal facility. It meant the city had a better ability to respond to natural disasters.
Mr Henderson said the procurement process for a build partner would begin later this year followed by detailed design development in 2026.
Upgrades to McLaren Gully Rd, the planned access road from the landfill to State Highway 1, would happen in 2026-27.
"Then immediately rolling straight into starting to build the actual landfill facility itself over [2028-29] to have it ready in 2030 when current estimates are that Green Island will be approaching the full end of its consents.
"Our plan is that the waste that’s going into Green Island, we can actually reduce that down a chunk which will give us some breathing room just to make sure that Smooth Hill is ready to go before we run out of any space at Green Island."
The council had an access agreement for waste with Winton landfill operator AB Lime if the Green Island landfill’s consent ran out before Smooth Hill opened.
The Smooth Hill landfill was expected to last 40 years at current waste disposal rates, or 70 years at low disposal rates.
