Trade Waste Charges - A Spectators View
Annual Conference
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In New Zealand many of the rural based councils have historically attracted industry into the region, especially large food processing plants, so that local employment is maintained. Many of these plants enjoyed low trade waste costs for many years as a result of this implicit social benefit relationship.
In the past 10 years, trade waste costs have crept up across New Zealand due to a number of issues, including but not limited to tighter wastewater discharge consent limits of the council owned wastewater treatment plants and community perception requiring the councils to improve their wastewater treatment. Many councils have now approached wastewater treatment as direct cost recovery so increased wastewater treatment costs are passed onto as increased trade waste charges for industries in the region.
The methodology councils use to charge trade waste dischargers are not consistent across New Zealand. The council jurisdiction in which the industry lies can have a significant impact on the trade waste cost. This paper assess four North Island councils (two rural and two urban) for the trade waste discharge of a raw wastewater from a typical beef processing plant. The cost difference between the councils varies by over 100% for the standardised wastewater. Due to the significant portion of load that rural industry can place on a rural centre sewage treatment plant, trade waste cost escalation can result which evident in at least one of the councils investigated.
On-site treatment can be an expensive option, requiring significant capital costs and on-going operational costs. However, considering the increasing trade waste charges being experienced in some centres, on-site wastewater treatment is viable option as it provides a saving over long term trade waste charges, despite the initial capital costs. Partial onsite treatment with continued discharge to trade waste has the potential to enable industries to remain in rural towns by buffering against trade waste cost escalation.