Funding announced for red zone household hazardous waste disposal

The Government has today announced that it will provide $509,000 from the Waste Minimisation Fund to help residents in Canterbury’s Red Zone safely dispose of their hazardous household waste.

The announcement was made by Environment Minister Hon Dr Nick Smith at the Styx Mill EcoDrop in North Christchurch.

“With more than 6000 properties identified in the Red Zone in suburban Christchurch, it’s important that any hazardous household materials such as cleaning products, paint, LPG and garden sprays are dealt with in a safe and environmentally-sound way,” Dr Smith says.

“We don’t want to see these hazardous materials being tipped down drains or buried just to create future environmental and health risks. This initiative means that residential red zone homeowners can easily and safely dispose of hazardous waste from their properties.”

The initiative is a joint venture between Environment Canterbury, the Christchurch City Council and the Waimakariri District Council.

The funding will go towards the:

• Preparation and distribution of household hazardous waste handling/disposal information to provide to affected households;
• Receipt, handling and disposal of household hazardous wastes at Council facilities; and
• Provision of a pre-demolition household hazardous waste clearance service for all residential red-zone properties due for removal.

 

Environment Canterbury Programme Manager Don Chittock says “This programme is designed to be proactive in encouraging residents leaving residential red zone properties to dispose of their unwanted household hazardous waste materials such as garden chemicals, paint and oil products in a safe and easy way. Best of all, it will be at no extra cost to the residents as existing facilities set up at Southbrook transfer station and Christchurch city EcoDrops will be used.

“All the councils and agencies involved appreciate the funding assistance of the Ministry of the Environment and the Waste Minimisation Fund in making this possible as the earthquake has created a situation where we need funding over and above our councils’ normal funding levels.’’

Residents will be provided with more details on the options available as soon as possible, Mr Chittock says.

The initiative will be implemented in three phases, the key objectives of which include:

• To achieve maximum removal of household hazardous wastes from Red-zoned properties, prior to removal.
• To minimise the potential for harmful effects arising from disposal of household hazardous waste in the residential Red-zone.
• To encourage the residents of Red-zoned properties to dispose of their household hazardous waste in an appropriate manner and encourage long-term behaviour changes.
• To utilise existing Council infrastructure and systems, where available, to collect and dispose of household hazardous waste.
• To liaise with the residents of Red-zoned properties and achieve all objectives in a manner sensitive to the current situation.