A landfill fire in Waikato which burned for nearly a year has resulted in a company and director being convicted and fined a total of $170,000.
Puke Coal Ltd (PCL) and its director, Kenneth John Campbell, who had active control of the site, were convicted on four charges each relating to discharging contaminants into the air, using land illegally and breaches of abatement notices, the Waikato Regional Council (WRC) said.
The company and the director were fined $85,000 each.
As a result of the fire and its smell, WRC compliance manager Patrick Lynch said nearby residents described being “prisoners in their own home” because they “couldn’t go outside due to the smell”.
Others had resorted to sleeping in their cars to get away from it, he added. In total, the council said it received 518 complaints from 45 people representing 34 households in relation to the fire.
“The smell was variously described as burning plastic, burning rubber, chemicals and sulphur, and we had complaints about coughing, sore throats, skin rash, sore eyes and headaches,” Lynch said.
Campbell and the company pleaded guilty three years after the council filed charges under the Resource Management Act in the Huntly District Court in 2021.
Lynch said the convictions were representative of the impacts on the Pukemiro, Glen Afton and Rotowaro communities, who had suffered varying degrees of smoke and objectionable odour from August 16, 2020 until August 11, 2021.
“Investigating ‘objectionable’ odour can be really challenging, as it is so hard to measure.
“The term ‘objectionable’ is subjective, but we were confident of meeting legal requirements because the information from the community showed that the odour was meeting thresholds for frequency, intensity, duration and offensiveness.
“Another aggravating factor was that people were suffering these effects in their private home.”
How the incident unfolded
The council was first made aware of the fire on August 16, 2020.
At the time, WRC said the company was operating a construction and demolition landfill at the 275-hectare Puke Coal site, but it was also receiving unconsented waste, including plastic and synthetic waste from mussel farms and household mixed plastics, paper and cardboard.
While the fire was initially controlled by Fire and Emergency New Zealand, it continued to burn underground, leading to complaints about the smell from neighbouring communities.
“In response to the complaints, and a lack of meaningful control of the fire by PCL, which continued to operate onsite, the council set up an incident management team coordinated by Waikato Civil Defence,” said a WRC spokesperson.
“The team included representation from Waikato Regional Council, Waikato District Council, Fire and Emergency New Zealand, Waikato District Health Board and Waikato-Tainui, all working together to understand and mitigate the risks on the community.”
Potential for increased levels of dioxin was indicated by a preliminary public health assessment in the area.
A welfare response team was then despatched door-to-door in the community within 3km of the site to issue a precautionary health notice. It advised pregnant and breastfeeding women to seek accommodation outside the affected area.
“The council issued abatement notices to PCL to cease unlawful discharge of contaminants to air from the fire; to cease the discharge of contaminants to land, and to remove plastic waste and other prohibited materials from the landfill.”
A search warrant, executed for over two days in December 2020, had to be abandoned due to concerns about “visible smoke plumes” and “charring across the landfill, and high readings of hydrogen sulphide”.
Lynch said there were a lot of people “really concerned” about their health, and it seemed to them “as though there was no end in sight”.
Judge Melinda Dickey noted in her sentence indication it was important that the defendants were held accountable for the harm done to the environment and therefore the community.
In August 2021, the landfill and surrounding site were purchased. It is now operated by Auckland based company Green Gorilla as a consented construction and demolition waste facility.
