Burwood Resource Recovery Park established

 

The Christchurch City Council will permit the establishment of the Burwood Resource Recovery Park to sort, process and recycle the 4.25 million tonnes of building rubble created by the 22 February earthquake.

Rubble from building demolitions has been sent to the old Burwood Landfill and three other smaller areas of the surrounding Bottle Lake Forest since the earthquake on the authority of the Civil Defence National Controller. The purpose of the Burwood Resource Recovery Park is to enable building and construction material to be removed as soon as possible from demolition sites. It will then be sorted, process and recycled over a longer period of time.

The Burwood Resource Recovery Park will be used for the temporary storage of demolition material while it is sorted and uses found for it. The park will also be used to deposit silt caused by liquefaction. Measures will be taken to mitigate the possibility of dust from the silt being blown across surrounding areas.

The Council today (Thursday 31 March 2011) agreed that four sites in Bottle Lake Forest be approved for the operation of the Burwood Resource Recovery Park, and that Council staff be given authority to take the necessary steps to continue the operation of the park, including seeking an Order in Council to streamline the process under the Resource Management Act 1991.

A significant amount of rubble will be generated from the demolition of buildings in the Central City, residential homes and damaged infrastructure. It is estimated that this will total 4.25 million tonnes. This compares with the 250,000 tonnes of general waste which is each year sent to the Kate Valley Landfill in North Canterbury.

Christchurch City Council Chief Executive Tony Marryatt says it is necessary for the city to find a site where the unprecedented levels of demolition waste can be processed.

The old Burwood Landfill and three smaller areas in the surrounding Bottle Lake Forest have been identified as the best site for this temporary processing facility because:

• the site is just 8km from the Central City and close to the worst-affected areas in the city’s east which is convenient for transportation;
• the site does not pose a risk to city aquifers that supply city drinking water;
• as the old landfill is on-site there are already measures in place to ensure security and to minimise adverse affects;
• established transport routes to and from the old landfill site are already established.

Councillor Sally Buck, Chair of the Canterbury Waste Joint Committee, says the creation of the resource recovery park allows for materials to be recycled instead of being sent directly to landfill at Kate Valley. “This is a good result because we do not want to use up valuable airspace at Kate Valley Landfill.”

The establishment of the park will see a significant increase in the number of trucks travelling to and from the site each day, particularly over the next six months. Council staff will work on a plans which seek to mitigate the effects on surrounding homes, including setting up a special travel route and avoiding use in peak times.

The overall area of the Burwood Resource Recovery Park will cover one-eighth of Bottle Lake Forest, leaving the majority of the park open to recreational users.