Ecogas representatives will join the monthly gathering on January 28 to talk with residents about a new way of dealing with green waste.
The meeting will come after new residents association chair Derek Phelps and committee member Marc Duff go to Auckland and Rotorua to view Ecogas’ North Island plants.
Also on the January 25 trip will be the Prebbleton Community Association.
The trip will cost the city council about $11,000, and is being undertaken to help educate councillors and community groups on the new facility.
City councillors Mark Peters, Andrei Moore and Yani Johanson are attending the trip. Community board members include Debbie Mora, Henk Buunk and Sarah Brunton from Waipuna Halswell-Hornby-Riccarton and Paul McMahon and Jackie Simons from Waitai Coastal-Burwood-Linwood.
The group will be accompanied by Dr Alec McNeil, the manager resource recovery and a senior project manager from the city council.
Phelps and Duff are looking forward to being “informed” and having a better understanding of the plant.
“We have a lot to discuss at the meeting. There is confusion about how this new plant differs from Bromley’s,” he said.
“It’s important to know the new plant is not a composting plant.
“This is a completely different operation where green waste is turned into bio-gas, bio-feed and bio-fuel. Nothing will be out in the open as the green waste is immediately put into tanks, so we have been assured that there will be a very slight smell – nothing compared to that of the Bromley plant.”
After many years of complaints about the stench emitted by the plant, the city council has decided to close Bromley and open a new facility on an industrial site in Aruha Rd, South Hornby.
The January 28 meeting with Ecogas will be Phelps’ first as the association’s chair, following Kim Moss’ resignation due to family commitments.
Said Moss: “While I will continue to be part of the association’s committee, I am looking forward to spending more time with my family, and serving the community in a different capacity as a Justice of Peace.”
Moss was elected as chair in June, taking over from Duff who was in the position for five years.
Said Phelps: “I’ve been the background boy for the last five years, so I’m looking forward to continuing to bring the Hornby community together and fight for what our area needs.
“We as an association still have a long way to go as it is a continuing process, but we have a good relationship with the council, our councillors, and the community, and we are very able to pass things along and work towards a better conclusion.”
Phelps was part of the steering committee which formed the association in 2018. He has also been its business liaison officer and treasurer.
