Rubbish station staffing talks

Press, 29 February 1984, Page 9

Rubbish station staffing talks

Four of the contractors who tendered to run the Eastern Transfer station now being built in Ruru Road, Bromley, will meet members of the Christchurch Metropolitan Refuse Disposal Committee in two weeks, so it can decide if the station should be run by private contractors or its own staff. The new station is due to be opened in July. Cr E. C. Britnell (Paparua County Council) said the committee would need to know by the end of June what labour would be used. He said at a meeting of the committee yesterday that an option could be for it to purchase equipment for use by a contractor, if that was economic. Toxic wastes The contract of the toxic wastes officer, Mr Klaus Prusas, is to be extended to September 31. Cr D. C. Close (Christchurch City Council) said that the role of the toxic

wastes officer was to ensure the proper disposal of toxic wastes. “It is important for the sake of future generations that they be disposed of properly,” he said. “If we are not responsible for it, then nobody else will be.” Cr R. S. Lester (Riccarton Borough Council) said that toxic waste disposal should not be funded by the ratepayer.

“If the business community is the cause of this toxic and hazardous waste problem, then surely it is their duty to pay for it,” he said. Cr M. P. Carter (Christchurch City Council) agreed with Cr Close that “the buck has to stop somewhere.” “Disposal of toxic wastes should not be the responsibility of local bodies but of a metropolitan authority,” he said.