West Coast Councils Aim to Halt Construction Waste Going to Landfills

The four West Coast councils have come together in an attempt to halt building and demolition waste from going to landfills.

Buller, Grey, and Westland district councils have collaborated with the West Coast Regional Council to secure $900,000 from the Waste Minimisation Fund (WMF) for the recovery, reuse, and reprocessing of building and demolition waste.

West Coast Regional Council consents and compliance manager, Colin Helem, said the project was aimed at reducing the large volume of building waste that currently enters landfills.

The first phase of the project will be to set up the structures and find stakeholders. A study will then be done to evaluate the project's feasibility.

Pending the outcome of the study, the necessary infrastructure will then be developed to support the recovery, reuse, and reprocessing of the various building and demolition waste streams.

Grey District Council utilities engineer and infrastructure manager, Kurtis Perrin-Smith, said the team was making sure that all key parties are involved from the get-go.

The project steering group will include representatives from the four councils, mana whenua Ngāti Waewae and Makaawhio, and industry representatives from Mitre10 and Reefton-based demolition company Rosco Contractors Ltd.

Westland District Council operations manager, Erle Bencich, said Tonkin + Taylor would complete a feasibility study to assess the project's practicality. With the study’s results expected at the end of the year.

Once the feasibility study is complete the project steering group and the Ministry for the Environment will decide whether it offers any practical options.