Talks on cash from trash

Press, 9 December 1981, Page 1

Talks on cash from trash

How to make money from rubbish was the subject discussed by a sub-committee of the Metropolitan Refuse Committee when it met yesterday. The resource recovery subcommittee received a feasibility report on biogas or methane production, which Mr H. A. Clark described as a most exciting project. The total incineration of rubbish, the committee considered, was an unlikely option because it was costly and dirty. It was resolved, however, to write to local authorities using incineration techniques seeking information. Composting, the method used by the Dunedin City

Council, was also discussed. The committee’s project engineer, Mr A. C. Vogan, who had visited the Dunedin site, reported on the scheme enthusiastically. “A good compost, which is being sold at $l4 a trailer load, is being produced at $8 a trailer-load,” he said. A monitor of the rubbish taken to the Christchurch centre on November 28 and 29 had found that it contained 40 tonnes of compostable materials, he said. P.E.P. workers were carrying out a survey in Christchurch to assess the supply of woodchips and meat and fish wastes, which were ideal for compost, Mr Vogan said.