Porirua City Council puts through new process to tackle Spicer Landfill odour reports

Porirua City Council is putting in a range of new efforts to help make community members’ odour reports for Spicer Landfill easier and provide greater data for the city council.

From 8am Tuesday 27 September, Spicer Landfill odour issues should be reported directly to Porirua City Council’s contact centre on 04 237 5089, including after hours.

David Down, Porirua City Council Manager Water and Waste, said community reports of odour would be shared with Greater Wellington the same day.

“Porirua City Council will be taking the calls and collecting information. We are also looking to engage independent personnel to make odour observations in the community when complaints are received after hours, to help get good data on when and where these occur.

“The most important thing for us all is to have a robust system in place for any residents who are having issues – so that they can get the information logged as efficiently as possible, so we can take action to try to find the source of the odour,” said Mr Down.

Mr Down said Porirua City Council regularly updated complaints data on its website, and this would continue.

Al Cross, Kaiwhakahaere Matua Taiao (General Manager Environment Management) for Greater Wellington, says about a third of all calls to Greater Wellington’s environment hotline from local residents are in relation to odour at Spicer Landfill.

“Porirua City Council holds RMA consents from Greater Wellington for landfilling activities and associated odorous air discharges. While calls can still be made to our environmental hotline where they will be recorded and triaged, we are recommending in the first instance, community members should report any odours to Porirua City Council. As the territorial authority, they are the only party that can implement changes to the site and control smells.

“Greater Wellington, as the regulator, will have visibility of the reports made to Porirua City Council and if we believe there are non-consent issues at play, we will investigate further and take action. Greater Wellington uses a mix of enforcement tools to deter non-compliance, ranging from education and advice to financial penalties.”

“While financial penalties can incentivise compliance, they do not stop the odour, only Porirua City Council and the site operators can do that,” said Mr Cross.

“Ultimately, Porirua City Council as consent holders and EnviroWaste Limited as operators are responsible for taking the appropriate action on-site to ensure they are complying with the requirements of the consent”.

To understand more about consents, landfills and the regional council’s role please visit the Greater Wellington website.

For more Porirua City Council information on Spicer Landfill visit the Porirua City Council website.