Erosion continues to expose West Coast landfill

Tuesday, 6 August 2019

Volunteers, DOC and council staff face a huge job cleaning up beaches strewn with rubbish from an old dump near Fox Glacier township. Now, another buried dump site is at risk.

Coastal erosion is continuing to expose an old dump full of ex-industrial state coal waste on a small West Coast settlement.

As severe weather events batter the coast, concerns are growing the toxic waste from the Hector landfill, a former state coal mine dump north of Westport – exposed by the sea during ex-Cyclone Fehi in 2018 – could end up in the sea.

Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage talks with Buller mayor Garry Howard at the Hector landfill.

Buller Mayor Garry Howard said inspections after high tide on Monday showed more erosion had occurred, which was 'very concerning'.

'Each of the large tides takes away up to 0.5m at a time. As it works back from the harder exterior of the landfill we are seeing more evidence of the landfill.'

Eroded reclaimed land that extends on to the beach in Hector.

Volunteers pick up rubbish in Fox River on the West Coast after a flood ripped open the old Fox Glacier landfill in March 2019.

* I bought a breadmaker after picking up 40 years of bread bags at Fox River

* Coastal erosion catches up with buried Kaiaua landfill

* Asbestos dump found on the West Coast**

Bottles in the reclaimed land that extends on to the beach in Hector.

The West Coast Regional Council had worked with the Buller council to apply for $660,000 from the Ministry for the Environment's Contaminated Sites Remediation Fund, but was refused. It was also told it did not meet the criteria for funds to clean up former Solid Energy mining sites.

The councils wanted to construct a permanent rock wall to provide a long-term solution, Howard said.

Some of the rubbish that has spread along South Westland beaches from the closed dump at Fox Glacier.

'I am astounded that it's not the highest priority given the imminent nature. It can cost $660,000 to prevent an occurrence. It will cost millions – as seen with Fox [exposed dump site in in Westland] – if it does got out to sea.'

About 135 tonnes of rubbish was strewn down the Westland coast after an old landfill site opened up during storms in March. The clean-up has taken months and cost local ratepayers and the Government several million dollars.

Signs at the asbestos-contaminated Kaiaua landfill on the Firth of Thames in August 2014, which was being eroded by wave action.

In Buller, ratepayers had funded several bunds, which had all been eroded and were not sustainable even in the short-term, Howard said.

Another temporary sand bund would be put in later this week but he hoped a long-term solution could be found.

The number of storm events occurring reinforced climate change was real, Howard said.

'It's happening, and we are having to deal with it. It's totally undeniable in my view.'

In January the West Coast Regional Council announced it would not support the Zero Carbon Bill, until the science behind human-caused climate change is proven.

Asbestos lying on the beach at Hector, north of Westport, after storm damage to a secret coastal dump early in 2018.

In February 2018, ex-cyclone Fehi exposed two decades' of buried rubbish as winds ripped open an old council dump in Greymouth, coating the shoreline with waste plastic and debris. That prompted councillors in Greymouth approve the construction of a $1 million wall to protect the dump from coastal erosion.

'You can't wait for evidence … the evidence is confronting us on a very regular basis – too regular,' Howard said.

One of two landfills located on an eroding cliff face near Oamaru. Coastal erosion has caused the contents of the landfill to fall on to the beach.

Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage said she had visited Hector and it was similar to other historic landfills around the country at increasing risks from climate change.

There was a wider programme of work on climate adaptation under way, she said, which included the risks of more landfills being exposed by sea level rise and more frequent and extreme flood events.

The Fox River legacy landfill site which has been damaged by floodwaters, allowing rubbish to flow downstream and on to West Coast beaches.

Old TV sets and plastic rubbish lie among the piles of green waste at Patea Beach in Taranaki.

Rubbish from the old Putorino landfill seeped into the Rangitikei River after it altered its course.

Rubbish on the beach at Cobden tip head and Shipwreck Point exposed when former tropical cyclone Fehi lashed the West Coast in February 2018.

Grey District mayor Tony Kokshoorn and Minister of Civil Defence Kris Faafoi at Cobden Beach where an old rubbish dump was eroded into the sea during ex-tropical cyclone Fehi in February 2018.

'We can't solve the issue landfill by landfill. We need to deal with it across New Zealand. We'll continue to engage with councils around the country on this issue.'

100 DUMPS AT RISK

In less environmentally enlightened times, rubbish tips were seen as a great way of 'reclaiming' land. For that reason, many were sited on the coastal fringe, to build out into the water.

Sage earlier said the ministry estimated there was more than 100 landfills at risk of sea level rise and natural hazards.

Many historic, 'legacy', landfills are next to or within a kilometre of beaches. And that does not take account of all the old, closed dumps hidden within the banks of rivers that flow out to the coast.

A good number of these landfills were filled before plastic became prevalent in the 1950s and '60s. However, they remain repositories for toxic goods, such as dangerous agri-chemicals, old car batteries and engine parts, asbestos and lead paint.

Forest & Bird conservation advocacy manager Jennifer Miller earlier said a Local Government New Zealand report on vulnerable infrastructure showed at least 110 known closed dumps around parts of the country will be exposed to the sea with just a 0.5 metre rise in average sea levels.

Eighty-eight are in the Auckland region, five in Nelson, nine in Otago and four in Canterbury.

In April, Stuff contacted 17 regional and unitary councils to get maps or lists of their closed coastal landfills.

Environment Canterbury lists 57 coastal legacy landfills around the region, but says that does not include those in the Kaikōura and Hurunui districts and also that it is unclear how many of those 57 may be farm dumps.

In Northland there are 15 closed landfills within 1km of the coast; Otago has 27 'mostly low-risk' historic coastal dumps; Bay of Plenty has eight outside Tauranga, which has at least two dozen alone; Taranaki has five; Waikato has 12; Nelson has one, at Atawhai; and Gisborne has four.

The Ministry for the Environment needed to provide 'clear guidance' to councils on what their responsibilities are, and the Government needs to fund that work, Miller said earlier.