Waste-to-energy plant: Opinion heats up close to site of proposed incinerator

Monday, 16 June 2025

The closer you get to the site of Te Awamutu’s proposed waste-to-energy incineration plant, the more opinion heats up.

Ahead of the Monday start for the independent Board of Inquiry hearings on the plant, the Waikato Times spent an afternoon in Te Awamutu.

The EPA has already received 2173 submissions on the plant, the vast majority - 97% or 2115 submissions - were against the plans.

Just 36 submitters - 1.6% - approved the plans, 13 were neutral and 10 did not state a view, while 1266 submitters want to speak at the hearings.

Waipa Mayor Susan O’Regan is also against the proposal, having previously told the Waikato Times “the last thing Te Awamutu people need is an incineration plant on their doorstep”.

The views in Te Awamutu town centre appeared in line with the EPA submitters - the Waikato Times found just one person in favour.

“I’m for it,” said Richard Hurrell.

“We’ve got to start getting rid of waste, stop chucking stuff in the ground.”

Hurrell also said he was aware of a similar waste-to-energy plant in Vancouver that operated without causing any environmental damage.

“The filters they’ll have, will be cleaner than what’s coming out of a dairy (factory) chimney.”

He said concerns about increased traffic were on a firmer footing, but again noted the area already had “hundreds of traffic movements”.

Clark and Irene Amdury said more was needed to reduce waste, but when it comes to this plant “location is more the issue,” they said.

“I can understand people don’t want it in their backyard, but nobody is recycling.”

At Racecourse Rd, the location of the proposed site, there’s less ambiguity among residents.

One property directly opposite the driveway that would lead to the plant has signs outside saying “don’t burn Waipa”.

“Not something we want for our family,” said one woman, whose property is almost directly in front of the drive leading to the site.

For Leith Atkin - whose property backs onto the site - the view is clear.

“(I) strongly oppose it,” he said.

Atkin said he and his family moved there nine years ago in search of “peace and quiet”, and they now find themselves “about 500 metres from the site”.

“If it goes ahead our house is worth bugger all,” he said.

Property prices were not his main concern, however.

Atkin said his main worry was health issues, “especially air quality, pollution”.

He also said he was concerned about the expected volume of trucks delivering waste to the plant.

He said he understood that to be effective, the plant had to run “24/7, 365”.

“They can’t turn the plant off,” he said.

“One truck every 20 minutes, 500 a day.”

The proposed $200m-plus facility is expected to take about 480 tonnes of refuse a day, burning it to generate steam to turn into electrical power.

The Environmental Protection Agency report noted that while only 36 submissions supported the plans, it was important to capture the positives they mentioned.

“The most common positive effect identified is that the proposal reduces the amount of waste going into landfills,” it said.

Others included reducing greenhouse gases, job creation, efficient disposal of tyres and a reduction in illegal dumping.

Hearings on the proposals are set to start on Monday June 16 at the FMG Stadium in Hamilton.