By Jessica Rowe
Half a million tonnes of earthquake rubbish will end up dumped in a forest park in the east of Christchurch, and despite plans to build a special fence to reduce noise and dust, residents living nearby say it will make their lives hell.
Residents Rob and Chris Evans live right at the entrance of the landfill, known as the Burwood Resource Recovery Park, and say the new re-aligned road will go right past their backyard.
“They might as well put a bulldozer past our house…it’s devastating,” says Mr Evans.
“I truly feel like a sacrificial lamb,” says Ms Evans.
The landfill was fast-tracked after the February quake, and for the last two years a stream of trucks have carried waste from the CBD to the site.
“We know at the end of the day the solutions and conditions of the consent are not going to please everyone in the community but the council is committed to doing the best we can to improve normality to their lives as soon as possible,” says Council Water and Waste manager Mark Christison.
Under the new resource consent, measures have been put in place to mitigate the effect on neighbouring properties. The access road to the landfill will be re-aligned and an acoustic wall will be set up to block out the noise, but it's not enough for some who are fed up with the noise and dust.
“Dust is going to be a problem, there is no doubt about it,” says Brett Aldridge of Environment Canterbury. “It's going to be a dusty route as trucks come through but operators are taking all steps [such as] wetting down loads and sites are being wetted down. All of those things are going to be done.”
It's tough for residents, but at least some of the material will be recycled and reused in the Christchurch rebuild.
3 News
source: newshub archive
