WASTE
Waste – the most important requirement for a waste-to-energy plant’s viability.
SIRRL Director Paul Taylor said in a North & South magazine article that SIRRL has “understandings and agreements in place” with waste management companies that amount to a “significant chunk” of the 365,000 tonnes required because their facility will be cheaper and reduce greenhouse emissions. “The councils in a lot of places don’t actually own the waste,” Taylor explains. Instead, the company has agreements with waste contractors “such as Waste Management, Envirowaste, and Ecowaste” that collect waste on behalf of councils.
“It would be unwise for us to go and contract a lot more at this point, because there’s considerable interest from a number of the larger waste collection companies, but for commercial reasons we can’t really talk about it.”
SIRRL'S RESOURCE CONSENT APPLICATION
SIRRL’s Operational Technical Overview (OTO) Report, page 16, states that the proposed plant will burn 1000 tonnes of waste daily, 365 days a year.
365,000 tonnes annually, which the company states will be made up of:
- 50% Municipal Solid Waste (MSW): 182,500 tonnes
- 50% Construction Waste (CW): 182,500 tonnes
The OTO report states that the waste is anticipated to come from:
- Christchurch: 71%, 259,150 tonnes
- Dunedin: 15%, 54,750 tonnes
- Central Otago: 14%, 51,100 tonnes
The OTO report, page 21, table 7, provides data sourced from the Ministry for Environment (MfE) for waste volumes disposed of by landfill between 2015 and 2021
The South Island figures for 2021 are:
- Class 1 (municipal solid waste or MSW) landfilled 804,686 tonnes
- Class 2 (construction and demolition fills) landfilled: 651,413 tonnes
- Farm Dumps: 384,866 tonnes
Total: 1,800,965 tonnes
The report has combined class 1 & 2 landfill figures with farm dumps to arrive at 1,800,965 tonnes of available waste in the South Island. The report states, SIRRL “has secured access to approximately 365,000 tonnes, which equates to just 20% of the total available quantity of waste.”
The report also states that SIRRL has signed conditional heads of agreement with waste suppliers to provide the plant with the yearly waste volumes.
But do these figures add up?
FARM dumps
The report fails to provide any method for acquiring waste from farm dumps. This would need to involve collecting each individual farm from the entire South Island and transporting the waste to Glenavy for incineration.
Clearly, this is not viable, so let’s subtract the 344,866 from the 1,800,965, which brings us back to 1,456,099 tonnes of waste available.
Class 1 landfills and class 2 landfills
The OTO report provides an approximate waste composition (table 4, page 17), sourced from Solid Waste Analysis Protocol (SWAP) data produced by the Christchurch City Council in 2019.
The table provides figures for recyclable and compostable content from class 1 and class 2 landfills as follows:
- Recyclable paper and cardboard 15.88%
- Recyclable plastics: 5.30%
- Compostable green waste: 15.64%
- E-waste 0.88%
- Kitchen food waste: 0.03%
TOTAL: 37.73% = 549,386 tonnes
Non-combustibles.
The table also provides a list of non-combustible materials that provide no calorific value when put through the incinerator, including;
- Glass 2.23%
- Concrete, ceramics and rubble 3.77%
- Metals 2.00%
TOTAL: 8.00% = 116,487 tonnes
If recyclable and compostable material were correctly sorted and recycled using currently available recycling practices, waste would not contain recyclable and compostable material. Using the data provided by SIRRL, that’s 37.73% of the available class 1 & 2 landfill material.
As mentioned, glass, concrete, ceramics, rubble, and metals hold no calorific value and, therefore, will not provide any energy recovery benefit when processed through an incinerator; it will actually end up as part of the resulting bottom ash, which the company claims it will landfill until better options become available, if at all.
This 8% non-combustible material equates to a further 116,487 tonnes.
If we take the combined class 1 & 2 landfill material and subtract the recyclable, compostable, and non-combustible material, we get 790,226 tonnes.
South Island class 1 & 2 landfills 1,456,099
recyclable/compostable content: 549,386
non-combustible content: 116,487
TOTAL: 790,226 tonnes
So, while SIRRL claims that the proposed Waimate incinerator will require only 20% of the South Island’s 1,800,965 tonnes of available waste stream, that overall figure includes recyclables, compostable material, non-combustibles, and waste disposed of in private farm dumps. If this material is removed from the waste stream, Project Kea’s required 365,000 tonnes per year amounts to approximately 46% of the available class 1 & 2 landfill content, not 20%.
Potential for further recycling.
The OTO report, table 4, also provides a list of waste, including other potentially recyclable materials, including;
- Soft plastics: 6.83%
- Clothing and textiles: 7.73%
- Timber 15.95%
TOTAL 30.51%
If this potentially recyclable material were to be removed from the future waste stream, it would deplete the waste quantities even further, perhaps by as much as 30%, or 237,068 tonnes.
Recycling initiatives
Initiatives currently available in New Zealand use soft plastics that are otherwise non-recyclable. Futurepost produces recyclable products, including fence posts and garden beds. This company has recently expanded into the South Island, and founder Jerome Wenzlick stated that it would use as much soft plastic as possible.
Recycling initiatives also use clothing and textiles made from natural materials.
SIRRL has stated that approximately 50% of the waste they will burn, will be sourced from construction waste (CW). In some parts of Europe, up to 95% of all construction waste is currently recycled.
Better sorting, reusing, and recycling initiatives will diminish available waste consent over time. Waste Management NZ has invested heavily alongside councils in building modern landfills. Both of these companies have publicly stated that they will not support waste-to-energy in NZ.
Waste Management NZ is the largest waste management company in New Zealand. In the past, they have explored the option of building a waste-to-energy plant in New Zealand. In fact, the company owns and operates plants in China. However, they concluded that the numbers did not stack up to build a plant in New Zealand, citing a lack of waste, and the investment cost.
Waste Management New Zealand and an amalgamation of Canterbury councils own the Kate Valley landfill, which currently landfills around 300,000 tonnes of waste annually. Numerous other major landfills provide disposal for most of the South Island’s waste.
SIRRL’s OTO report states that 15% of the 365,000 tonnes the proposed incinerator requires will be sourced from Dunedin, which is 54,750 tonnes. Dunedin’s council owned Green Island landfill, disposes of approximately 40,000 tonnes of waste annually.
Companies like Waste Management and Envirowaste are well-established in New Zealand. Numerous councils contract them to provide waste collection, sorting, recycling, and disposal options. They also control the majority of the available waste stream in New Zealand. Without their support, it is a big ask for any emerging competitor requiring almost half of the available waste stream, which is already spoken for, to gain a foothold in the South Island.
Add in the huge risk for councils to ditch current contracts in favour of a waste-to-energy plant that’s reliant on the operators having to win contracts with numerous other councils and private waste management companies throughout the South Island. Councils are responsible for providing reliable waste collection and disposal methods for their ratepayers. If a council did decide to ditch current contracts in favour of W-t-E, only to find that the W-t-E company couldn’t secure the amount needed from numerous other sources, then that council would be forced to renegotiate contracts with alternative waste management companies, which would likely result in rate increases to cover any difference.
The BERL report into waste-to-energy incineration.
As stated, SIRRL’s proposed Waimate plant would be required to compete with well-established waste management companies to secure the waste. This would require them to provide potential customers with a gate fee lower than their competitors. Surely, the two main waste management companies in New Zealand will adjust their gate fees to compensate and will probably be better placed to squeeze the W-t-E plant out of the market. See BERL report on waste to energy.
So, if SIRRL is unable to effectively source waste within the South Island, then what? Import waste?
Barging Waste: The Importation of Waste from Australia and the Pacific Islands
SIRRL and REL director Paul Taylor was asked in a recent short film by Frank Films if importing waste was an option. His response was no.
Taylor was also asked in a North & South magazine article if SIRRL would import waste. Taylor’s response was “We would never embark on a plant if we thought that we were likely to have to import waste.”
In 2018, SIRRL’s NZ subsidiary shareholder Renew Energy Ltd (REL) proposed a W-t-E plant for Westport on the West Coast of the South Island. When asked, why Westport? Then operating manager David McGregor said “because it is near a port for the importation of waste from Australia and the Pacific Island’s.” Around the same time REL had discussions with the Marlborough District Council. Renew talked about barging waste (more on this to follow) from Marlborough and perhaps further, to site for the proposed Westport plant. They also had plans to incinerate grape marc (the waste material from wine production), and broken tanalised posts from vineyards.
Renew shareholders Leonard Hugh Grey, Robert Bruce Grey, and Paul Donald Le Gros among others, are involved in the wine industry.
Connecting REL & West Coast Mining
Renew Energy shareholder’s Leonard and Robert Grey have interests in mining. The Grey’s are shareholders of TiGa Minerals and Metals and Barrytown Resources Limited. Both of these companies are involved in controversial mining projects on the West Coast of the South Island.
Leonard Grey is also a shareholder and director of West Coast Mineral Sands (WMS Group). WMS Group is made up of Westland Mineral Sands, which operates a sand mining company in Cape Foulwind near Westport, and West Coast Bulk Logistics Ltd.
Along with Leonard Grey, West Coast Regional Council councillor and Renew Energy shareholder, Mark McIntyre is also a shareholder of WMS Group subsidiary company, WMS Group Land co.
REL & Development West Coast
In July 2016 the National-led coalition government gave Renew Energy $50,000 via NZ Trade and Enterprise towards a waste-to-energy feasibility study, this sum was matched by Development West Coast (DWC).
DWC which was set up in 2001 with $92m of government money to offset the impact of the end of native timber milling on the West Coast economy, has invested $3 million into WMS Group (more on them to follow).
Development West Coast is governed by a board of trustees, of whom three are elected, three appointed and a further two are tangata whenua-appointed.
In 2023 Development West Coast’s investment portfolio dropped $7.3m, to $139.6m, the fiscal year closing with a $5m net deficit. Despite this, DWC approved 12 out of 14 commercial funding applications, totalling $4.2m, while investing an additional $8.2m in regional development projects and community distribution.
In 2015, DWC invested over $1 million into Putake Honey for a 50% share of the company, the investment sparking controversy because the company processed its honey in Blenheim, not on the West Coast.
In 2019 the said to be struggling Putake Honey was purchased by Rainbow Honey. Rainbow Honey is owned by major Renew Energy shareholder Philip Cropp.
DWC’s list of failed investments also includes $3m on an unsuccessful cranberry farm and $13m into a struggling dairy farm owned by Cranley Farms.
Cranley Farms shareholders include Nelson acountant Robin Whalley. Whalley is a director of Philip Cropp owned companies Nelson Honey, Rainbow Honey and P&E Cropp building. Whalley, along with Paul Donald LeGros is also a shareholder in Southland Canning Co LTD. Le Gros and Cropp are also REL shareholders.
Kevin Stratful
In 2019 former REL director and current SIRRL director Kevin Robert Stratful was employed by the DWC as a consultant. He resigned his position in July 2019 after coming under fire for using his work email to promote a Waste-to-Energy venture by REL that he was personally involved in. Days later Stratful retracted his resignation before subsequently resigning again in November 2019.
Westport and Greymouth Ports
WMS Group
WMS Group (Westland Mineral Sands) is a mining and logistics company with operating licenses for thousands of hectares of sand dunes on the West Coast, with mineral deposits obtained using surface mining.
WMS Group subsidiary company West Coast Bulk Logistics Limited (WCBL) also leases and operates the ports of Greymouth and Westport.
Three Years Into Lease, No Wharfage Income was Received From WMS Group.
In August 2020, WCBL signed a 30-year contract to lease part of Westport Port from the Buller District Council.
The Westport News reported the council expected to receive $25.2 million in port income between 2021 and 2031. But, in February – more than three years into the lease – former chief financial officer Douglas Marshall said the council had not yet received any wharfage income from WMS Group.
The council has refused to say how much rent or wharfage it has received since, citing commercial sensitivity.
The Manahau Barge Fiasco
Coastal Shipping Initiative Program Fund
In 2022, WMS Group was awarded a share of $7m from the government’s coastal shipping initiative Program. WMS used these funds to acquire a 98m barge which the company said would be used to transport mineral sands from the West Coast ports to awaiting offshore freighters. WMS also claimed the barge would provide the West Coast with resilience and jobs.
Jones on hand to herald the arrival of the Manahau barge into Westport
The Power Of Wind
In the above video, as the Manahau sounds its arrival with its fog horn, Jones on the banks of the Westport River can be heard saying, “That is the siren of success, for the Coast and the mining industry.” Jones can also be heard saying that Manahau translates to “something of prestige or the power of wind”. A short time later, after an extensive refit and refurbishment, the barge washed up on a West Coast beach. The barge had been moored off the coast before being blown free and stranding on Carter’s Beach. It was eventually refloated and towed to its current mooring at the Port of Nelson, where it has been for over a year. Some success story!
Despite being promoted as a means of bringing employment to the region, the barge was entirely manned by an inexperienced overseas crew.
The incident led to safety concerns being raised by Maritmie New Zealand and also resulted in criticism of WMS following the company’s attitude and actions in blocking a union from meeting with the barge’s crew members, which led the union to threaten legal action.
Shane Jones
NZ First’s Shane Jones has a long history with SIRRL’s NZ shareholder company, Renew Energy Limited (REL). In 2017 Jones gave REL $350,00 from the Provincial Growth Fund for a West Coast waste-to-energy feasibility study. However, it was revealed that the funds came just two days after Jones was warned by the Environment Ministry that the project did not stack up economically or environmentally.
Jones initially denied receiving the ministry’s concerns, but said even if he had been aware of their position, it wouldn’t have changed a thing.“It makes not one jot of difference to me – a feasibility study should be able to flush all such information out,” “And if the thing dies as a consequence of a feasibility study that’s why the private sector should do feasibility studies.”
Pablo
National’s economic development spokesperson at the time, Paul Goldsmith, said Mr Jones’ cavalier attitude to public money was disturbing, accusing him of throwing money around like the drug lord Pablo Escobar. “It’s a sad indictment of the way that Mr Jones is going about the Provincial Growth Fund – There’s no clear process that we can see from the outside, it’s slap-dash and they’re making mistakes that they shouldn’t be making.”
However, it gets worse. After claiming he knew nothing about the Ministry for the Environment’s advice, some public servants got in touch with RNZ and provided an email trail showing their minister was fully briefed by his official John Doorbar and he knew full-well experts considered the project a lemon.
Mr Jones said he genuinely just forgot all about it, “Obviously so busy and so many things floating around in the square head that I overlooked that one.”
COULD IT GET ANY WORSE? Well, it does! Jones was forced to retract the funding after RNZ revealed that REL founder, managing director and major shareholder, Gerard Gallagher was being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) on several counts of corruption.
A later inquiry into the funding fiasco showed that SIRRL director and then REL director Kevin Stratful neglected to disclose the SFO investigation into Gallagher when applying for the funding. The report also disclosed that MBIE had failed to do any due diligence on the applicant.
A Time To Talk Rubbish?
The above photo was taken at the Speights Ale House in Greymouth on 16 July 2019. REL’s Kevin Stratful sits at the head of the table. This was four days before Stratful announced his initial resignation from Development West Coast and just days before Kevin Stratful and Westland mayor Bruce Smith presented a Hokitika W-t-E pitch to 500 residents at the Hokitika Theatre on 25 July 2019. It was also after REL had lodged a resource consent application to stockpile 132,000 tonnes of waste on the edge of Reefton, and three months after Buller mayor Gary Howard had faced a vote of no confidence from his council after it was revealed the mayor had signed W-t-E agreements without his council’s knowledge while on a REL-hosted W-t-E tour in China.
Also, two years prior to this lunch, Kevin Stratful had embarrassed Shane Jones by failing to disclose that his fellow REL director Gerard Gallagher, was being investigated by the SFO when making REL’s Provincial Growth Fund application.
Also in attendance are Grey mayor Tony Kokshoorn, Westland mayor Bruce Smith, and West Coast Regional Councillors.
Do you think REL’s W-t-E proposal was on the lunch menu?
NZ First position on W-t-E
In 2023 the NZ First party included the following two policy points in its manifesto;
- Develop a nationwide WtE strategy, and
- Urgently halt all new landfills in NZ.
So what moves have Jones and his government taken to action these policies? Well, it seems the only move of note is adding SIRRL’s WtE project to the Fast Track, while denying Global Contracting Solutions, Te Awamutu WtE project.
The inconsistency is exacerbated by the inclusion of new landfills projects in FT, showing this Fast-track process really is a free for all.
In March 2025, NZ First leader Winston Peters and deputy leader Shane Jones were contacted with a list of questions related to NZ First’s 2023 policy manifesto, in particular; ‘The nationwide WtE strategy’ and ‘Urgent halting of all new landfills in NZ’. This request was bumped on to party president Julian Paul who initially said “ New Zealand First has not progressed any of those policy points as they are not in the coalition agreement and we do not have the relevant ministerial portfolio to advance these points.”
This seems rather weak considering that Jones is using his ministerial influence to progress SIRRL’s WtE project through Fast Track.
Paul also said he would respond to the questions in more detail in due course. Despite several attempts to follow up on this, Paul has not responded.
The Fast Track inconsistencies, and the reluctance or inability to provide any details regarding its proposed WtE and landfill strategies, and the exclusion of these policy points from the coalition agreement, raises the question; why was this so-called WtE policy point included in NZ Firsts 2023 policy manifesto?
Jone's 2024 trip to Singapore
In October 2024, Jones travelled to Singapore. His travel report shows he met with Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister GAN Kim Yong and Minister in charge of trade relations Grace FU. Discussions relating to the following were listed; food security, supply chain resilience, investment, and energy policy.
The report states that Jones met with a range of Temasek portfolio companies, including Keppel Group, Olam, SATS, ST Engineering, PSA Group and Keppel Seghers. He also met with energy shipping giant BW Group, the chairman of the Singapore Stock Exchange, and sovereign wealth fund GIC.
Included in Jone’s visits were the Tua’s Port, ST Engineering dry dock facilities and Keppel Seghers Waste to Energy plant. The purpose of these visits was said to be ‘to observe the scale and technology of existing infrastructure projects in Singapore’.
ST Engineering is a defence and engineering firm that supplies weapons, ammunition, and battlefield mobility systems like military vehicles.They also provide maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) services for defence platforms, build naval vessels, offer aerospace services, and develop cybersecurity and satellite communications equipment for governments and armed forces globally.
ST also supports the waste-to-energy sector by designing, building, operating , and maintaining integrated waste management and energy recovery facilities like the Tuas Nexus incinerator, which processes waste for energy while generating electricity and heat.
Fast-track
Despite REL’s dubious history and Stratful and REL’s 2017 embarrassment of Jones, In 2024, REL and SIRRL were once again given a leg-up by Jones, this time onto a dodgy fast track platform, even though SIRRL’s fast track application lodged again by Mr Stratful, was full of mistakes, false information and once again failed to disclose REL’s history, this time it’s illegal storage of waste.
.CONVERGENCE
Since 2021, SIRRL has employed the services of PR company Convergence Communications. Why the need for a high-profile public relations firm?
Damage Control
Whether it be a serious workplace accident, a faulty product, or a social media campaign threatening your reputation, Convergence says it has the expertise and experience to help you recover with your reputation intact. The company boasts of having worked behind the scenes of many high-profile New Zealand crises, including work for Pike River Coal following the tragic mining disaster in 2010.
Government Lobbying Specialists
Convergence prides itself on having the skill set to lobby government with a full-time, Wellington-based government relations specialist and another based in Auckland.
Convergence sells itself as an approved professional services provider to the New Zealand government and is featured on the All-of-Government (AoG) PR Consultancy Panel.
Convergence says: ‘If you want the country’s decision makers and influencers to know what your business is doing, or you are trying to achieve change in central, regional or local government policy, we can help to get your message across.’
Convergence also has firsthand experience in the mining industry. Co-owner and managing partner Leigh Justine Harris along with Renew Energy Limited shareholders Leonard Hugh Grey, Robert Bruce Grey, and Dianne Rosalie Hansen are all shareholders of Australian mining company TIGA Minerals and Metals (TIGAMM).
TIGAMM (also listed as a Convergence client), also made the list of organisations shoulder-tapped by the government for fast-track consent. Also making the list is West Coast mining company WMS Group, of which Leonard Grey is also a shareholder, and several projects by Carters Group, which Convergence also represents.
Recurring Pattern
As we see, aside from REL, there is another recurring pattern running through this decade-long saga: Shane Jones and his penchant for resurrecting REL’s roadkill projects.
As long as the likes of Jones are in positions to continually help REL by providing dodgy platforms, legislative leg-ups, and questionable funding. And SIRRL’s mouthpiece has direct access to the government ear to spruik its proposals and have them circumvent RMA process because they likey wouldn’t stand up to scrutiny, then other small towns will likely have to endure these recidivist pests just as Westport, Reefton, Belfast, Hokitika and Waimate have.