Rubbish piles up

Press, 24 October 1984, Page 1

Rubbish piles up

Christchurch’s two refuse transfer stations - cannot cope with the amount of rubbish being dumped, the Metropolitan Refuse Disposal Committee was told yesterday. The project engineer, Mr Arthur Vogan, said in his report that men had worked overtime at the plants for the last seven months to clear the continuing backlog. Refuse had still been left on the floor of the Parkhouse Road station overnight. Residents were complaining about the early and late hours the trucks were passing their houses. The waiting time in queues at the week-ends was sometimes as long as 40 minutes, especially on windy days when tipping was restricted to one side of the station. ; Although the station at

Ruru Road had opened this month, loads had not decreased at the Parkhouse Road station, probably because of the closing of the Waimairi, Bexley, and McTeigues Road dumps recently. “Even if approval to build a third station were given within the next two months the present situation will continue until that station is commissioned, probably late 1986,” Mr Vogan said in his report. Cr Bill Rice said that even with the new truck and trailer, which was due soon at the Parkhouse Road plant, there would still be more refuse than they could cope with for at least half the time. , Cr David Close moved that another prime mover and trailer be bought. He said that even if the amount

of refuse declined it could still be used when there were breakdowns, or when the other vehicles were undergoing maintenance. Cr Maurice Carter said that the committee could not afford to buy more equipment. “We cannot go on budgeting for a deficit. It has to get on to paying its own way,” he said. Cr Close replied that the increased loads at the stations would provide the revenue. All the capital costs of running the stations would remain the same, he said. “If the throughput declines we won’t have wasted any money because we are going to have to replace some of the prime movers within a year or two anyway,” he said. Mr Vogan said he had

met staff at the stations on Monday afternoon.

“They are coping with the overtime quite well but they would like to see some light at the end of the tunnel. If they were expected to go on for another two years like this they would not .do it,” he said. Some of the workers are starting work at 5.30 a.m. and finishing at 6 p.m. “We are under an obligation to ensure they have a sufficient rest period each day,” he said. The meeting resolved to refer the whole matter to the technical officers, who would report back to the November meeting with recommendations and possible solutions. ' • - The officers would also investigate the possibility of buying another prime mover.