Steaming compost row

BY PAUL GORMAN

Piles of steaming compost are being dumped close to an estuary along State Highway 1 north of Christchurch.

Every day up to eight truckloads of compost from the Bromley plant of Christchurch City Council contractor Living Earth are tipped on to privately owned land near the Ashley River and Saltwater Creek.

In spring, after being screened for unsuitable materials such as plastic, the compost, made from organic waste collected in green wheelie bins, will be spread on farmland.

For the next six months residents will have to live with the green mounds, up to 1.5 metres high, that steam when dumped.

Some residents are complaining about the smell and a sharp rise in insects.

Environment Canterbury (ECan) says the piles do not need resource consent because they are temporary and are not classified as bulk storage.

But the Waimakariri District Council says the the piles breach the district plan, and consent was needed.

Council spokesman Rory Christie said a council officer had inspected the site.

"If such an application has not been lodged within a reasonable time frame, the council will be pursuing enforcement action," he said.

Living Earth general manager George Fietje said the company was looking at other sites where landowners might want to receive compost for spreading in spring.

"I'm not aware of any concerns about it," he said.

"The material is going to go on to agricultural land.

"That's what we see as a key market for that product."

Green Party co-leader Russel Norman said his main concern was the closeness of dozens of compost piles to the banks of Saltwater Creek and the possibility of nitrogen leaching into the stream, which was vulnerable to flooding.

Norman visited Saltwater Creek late last week on his Dirty Rivers tour of the country.

"It's really good they are finding uses for green waste," he said.

"It's better than putting it in the landfill, but clearly there's an issue about it leaching into the waterway, and also it floods there.

"Whatever goes down there could go up in the Ashley [River].

"Those big piles of compost; you could see them steaming and you could smell that refuse landfill kind of smell."

A resident, who asked not to be named, said the compost, now being dumped further from Saltwater Creek but closer to the Ashley River, was not smelly at first but now "the whole neighbourhood stinks".

"After I first complained about it, a month or so ago, they stopped dumping stuff for a wee bit, but then it started back again a couple of weeks back," he said.

"There're a lot more bugs in the air – flea-type flies – now."

He supported efforts to make compost and spread it on farmland.

But the stockpiling was annoying him.

Fietje said Living Earth had talked to ECan about the compost.

"Because it's not going to be there long-term, our understanding is it's OK to have it there."

ECan senior environmental protection officer David Kuru said the compost still needed to be screened before use.

"If they were storing for the purpose of bulk storage, then I would insist on a resource consent," he said.

- © Fairfax NZ News