Waimairi E.I.R. basis queried

Press, 3 September 1981, Page 4

Waimairi E.I.R. basis queried

A Parklands man who said he was “an environment person by nature” expressed concern last evening about an environmental impact report, prepared in 1977, on the proposed Waimairi coastal landfill site.

The report did not say, precisely, how the site was selected and by how many points the other sites were rejected, Mr S. Schneider, a draughtsman, told the Waimairi landfill hearing.

“A report of March, 1972, to local councils names possible landfill sites which are identical to the E.I.R list, with the Waimairi coastal site being specifically named,” said Mr Schneider. “I contend that the site was recommended in 1972 by the joint local authority engineers as the future refuse landfill for Christchurch, a

full five years before the E.I.R. was commissioned,” he said.

The report was created to justify an ill-conceived and cheap method of waste disposal for Christchurch, Mr Schneider said. He said he found it surprising, with the value normally placed on coast and beach, that it was proposed eventually to use 200 ha to 350 ha of this kind of land for rubbish disposal. He was also concerned about the "apparently ready acceptance of landfill as a method of refuse disposal for Canterbury in 1980.

“It would seem advisable that methods which require little or no land for disposal be further investigated, especially in view of the difficulty of tipping refuse in most of the Canterbury region,” Mr Schneider said.