Waimairi Rubbish Dump

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31768, 27 August 1968, Page 16

Waimairi Rubbish Dump

Sir,—Referring to last week’s meeting of the Wairnairi County Council, and in particular to the criticism of the Minister of Health, I would suggest that, while pushing for a national policy regarding Air pollution, the council should take good care that it is beyond criticism and set a better example to residents of city and county. I refer to the clouds of black smoke which periodically rise from the county rubbish dump off Johns Road and hang over the city. Are they motor vehicle tyres, and do they have to be burnt? Oh the morning of August 13 the smoke, as seen from a point in Harewood Road, was drifting in a southerly direction, causing a pall as far as the eye could see and of sufficient density to obscure the Southern Alps which had previously stood out clearly in the sunshine. —Yours, etc., J. H. WHITELEY. August 21, 1968.

[The chairman of the Waimairi County Council (Cr D. B. Rich) replies: “Discarded motor tyres are burnt at the Sawyers Arms Road pit from time to time. The matter is at present under investgation, with a view to obtaining other satisfactory means of disposal, and this is in accordance with the council’s policy in connection with air pollution. Disposal of discarded tyres is a world-wide problem. They cannot be satisfactorily disposed of in a pit because of the fire risk involved with this inflammable material.”)