A submissions hearing has been set for next week to help determine the expansion of an industrial scale worm farm on the outskirts of Kawerau, which has been the subject of odour complaints.

The most recent and numerous of these complaints was over the past summer.

In May, Ecocast applied for resource consents from Bay of Plenty Regional Council for discharges to land and air and Whakatāne District Council for intensive farming activity to expand its operation, both on the existing site and on an adjoining property.

The applications were publicly notified and both received submissions which are scheduled to be heard by an independent commissioner on Tuesday, December 10, at the regional council offices in Whakatāne.

The vermicast operation recycles biosolids from wastewater treatment plants throughout the Bay of Plenty, which would otherwise be trucked to landfill. Using natural methods, the biosolids are made into a safe, high-quality fertiliser.

As required by the Resource Management Act, both district and regional councils have submitted detailed Section 42A reports with recommendations to the commissioner. However, while the regional council has recommended granting its resource consent, the district council has advised denying it.

The report from the regional council said Ecocast had been the subject of more than 130 odour complaints to the regional council since September 2020 but had made improvements in its management practices in recent months.

The last substantiated complaint was in March, following breach of an abatement notice in January and subsequent infringement.

The report also detailed the effects of the worm farm on water quality and remediation work Ecocast has done to correct this.

At the time the application was notified, the land on which the worm farm sits traversed the boundary between Whakatāne and Kawerau districts.

While Whakatāne council has managed the consent until recently, the land was transferred to Kawerau district on September 1.

The Section 42A report from the Whakatāne council recommends declining the resource consent pending a resolution being reached between Ngāti Tūwharetoa (Bay of Plenty) Settlement Trust, and the applicant, due to cultural effects outlined in a submission from the settlement trust.

The settlement trust has submitted that it considers offensive the carting of human waste into its tribal territory and spreading it on the land.

The main concern expressed was that the human waste could contain not just faeces and urine but also blood, which was considered very tapu (sacred) as it carried the whakapapa or ancestry.

“As human waste, which includes blood, is carried from one rohe to another, so too are the ancestors from that rohe,” the submission said.

It was viewed as “trampling on the mana of our eponymous ancestor, Tūwharetoa”.

Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora also made submissions to both resource consents, with conditions for safe handling, transport and processing of waste should they be granted. These included that there be no detectable odour beyond the boundary of the site.

The regional council received five submissions, two in opposition, and three partially in support, with conditions.

A submission from Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa sought some conditions be put in place. The submission outlined an event that occurred in December last year that resulted in strong odours being emitted, causing concern to Kawerau residents.

Because the stockpile of wood substrate normally mixed with the biosolids had been used up, an inexperienced operator left in charge of the site spread the biosolids without first mixing them with substrate.

At the time, the site manager’s phone was broken, making him unreachable and the owner had been out of town at a family member’s funeral.

Both short- and long-term remedial actions have been taken since.

Whakatāne council had previously appointed an independent commissioner for the hearing, Gina Sweetman, who has experience on hearing panels for councils in Auckland, Queenstown, Hutt City and Rotorua, among others.

The Kawerau council confirmed its endorsement of Ms Sweetman in the role on Wednesday, citing her wealth of experience in such matters.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.