What’s best for city’s rubbish?

The Dunedin City Council’s decision to appoint an outside company to run the Green Island landfill will hit ratepayers in the pocket, but the clock is ticking towards bigger decisions about the future of the city’s rubbish.

It was confirmed last week the council had awarded the Beijing-owned company Waste Management Ltd an eight-year, $20.6 million contract to run the Green Island landfill.

The company, which already operates in Dunedin and across New Zealand, would replace Delta, a DCC-owned company, as the operator.

The change was expected to cost 12 Delta staff their jobs, but was  said to deliver savings of $500,000 over the life of the contract.

However, the Otago Daily Times was also told yesterday Delta’s bid had come in at $18.8 million, significantly cheaper than Waste Management’s, although price was only 30% of the criteria.

Losing the contract could also erode Delta’s ability to pay dividends to the council in future, potentially costing the council $5 million over the life of the contract, another source suggested.

"What the DCC is doing is stripping Delta of any ability to return a dividend to [the council] in the years to come."

Council and Delta staff referred financial questions to each other yesterday, while Mayor Dave Cull could not be reached for comment.

Council infrastructure committee chairwoman Cr Kate Wilson insisted price was not the only consideration, and Waste Management had presented an "outstanding bid".

While Delta’s loss may have a "small  effect in the short-term", it would also give it "an opportunity to look at stuff they might wouldn’t otherwise".

The threat of a reduced Delta dividend was "a whole lot of what-ifs" and "crystal ball gazing", and there were other non-financial factors to consider, she said.

"Maybe we need to look at what’s best for Dunedin, rather than just the financials."

Big questions remain about the city’s landfill options once the Green Island facility’s consent expired in 2023.

Former mayoral candidate Barry Timmings, who campaigned on the issue last year, raised it again this week.

He said  there appeared to be no "long-term answer" to the city’s rubbish needs, and with any consent for a new landfill likely to take years, the clock was ticking.

"It would seem to me that we may end up only having one option left, which is a convoy of rubbish trucks taking our waste to Southland every week."

In Dunedin, the city’s rubbish collection was split between the council’s service and a private collection run by Waste Management.

Waste Management offered a kerbside wheelie bin service and ran two city transfer stations and a Fairfield landfill, which had a consent expiring next year but was already close to capacity.

The company was already one of the largest customers using the council’s landfill, but Waste Management South Island general manager Gareth James said its volumes to the council-owned facility would increase when its own landfill closed.

It is understood  the company  is  also set to begin transferring waste from Oamaru to Green Island later this month, although the company has declined to confirm it.

The transfers would begin after April 22, the day the Oamaru landfill closed and a new transfer station developed by Waste Management and partners including the Waitaki District Council opened.

Council solid waste manager Catherine Irvine said the increased reliance on the Green Island landfill would not accelerate its closure date, as there was enough spare capacity to last another 15 years.

However, its location in an estuary, together with its age, meant it was unlikely a new consent would be sought, Cr Wilson said.

The council already had a designation over a new landfill site at Smooth Hill, on the Taieri, but Ms Irvine said it was not known how long any consent process would take.

A "regional conversation" was needed about what would replace the Green Island landfill, but options included a regional facility — in Dunedin or elsewhere in Otago — as happened in Canterbury.

"Everybody knows it is something that needs to be sorted out and we need to investigate all our options."

In the meantime, she would not be drawn on the possibility of rubbish eventually being trucked out of Dunedin, but Cr Wilson pointed out other communities "don’t have landfills any more".

"They ship it elsewhere."

chris.morris@odt.co.nz