New plans for waste to energy plant emerge during hearings
Wednesday, 18 June 2025
Those behind a controversial $200 million waste to energy plant in Te Awamutu may have to head back to the drawing board after revealing plans to install large carbon capture tanks not originally on plans for the site.
Tuesday was day two of a scheduled three week hearing into Global Contracting Solutions’ (GCS) application to build a waste to energy plant in Racecourse Rd on the edge of town.
The company plans to incinerate around 160,000 tonnes of rubbish and recycling waste annually to generate steam to turn into 15MW of electricity and “divert waste from landfill”.
The Environmental Protection Authority-run hearings have brought together a three-person independent panel, made up of chairman Brian Dwyer, Nicholas Manukau, and Myles McCauley, to hear from submitters and make a final decision on the fate of the widely unpopular proposal.
First in the hot seat on Tuesday was the company’s project manager Adam Fletcher who was asked about the use of carbon capture technology at the site.
Fletcher said the company planned to build a series of large carbon capture tanks which were not included in their original plans but had been added in efforts to reduce the site’s emissions.
He said the technology they wanted to use would mean the construction of a 30m x 40m building up to 25m high to house three large tanks which would help filter toxins out of the air.
However, Fletcher said it was “only a concept at this stage” and would require another round of emissions analysis, and further resource consent applications.
The panel then heard from GCS contractor, and chief executive of SL Energy Solutions, Siegfried Lohmeier who designed the plant’s sorting, separation and conveyor systems.
During questioning, Lohmeier told the panel it was “the most sophisticated shredding line I have ever seen” and assured them his technology would automatically pick up almost all recyclable materials, including plastics, heading to the plant’s furnace.
But he said some potential toxic waste materials such as treated timber, electrical waste, lithium batteries, food waste, nappies, and other metals could be incinerated if they were missed by manual sorters (staff).
He said pre-shredded tyres would also be mixed into the fuel for the furnace - which would be made up of 10% flock (combustible materials left over once recyclables have been stripped out of vehicles), 45 to 50% household waste, and 20% plastic - but he had no control over what amount of each type went into the furnace.
Asked if tyres were used in similar waste to energy plants he had built in Europe and parts of South East Asia, he replied “very seldom”, and tyres were usually not included in waste burned at those plants.
Quizzed on how often his machinery would break down, Lohmeier said it would need to be “cleaned on a daily basis to avoid breakdowns”.
Waste to energy generation expert Jan Deisenroth, who designed the plant’s incinerator and boilers, said the burning of tyres “was problematic” but the process was “not a magic thing that will make all the undesirables disappear”.
He said higher amounts of flock, or plastic, used in furnaces could produce less energy, but could be compensated for by increasing the total amount of waste fed into the system.
Deisenroth told the panel that similar plants in Germany were covered by strict government regulations and state of the art monitoring systems, and waste materials going into the proposed plant’s furnaces would be “a lot cleaner than what was being used in German plants”.
The hearings will resume at FMG Stadium in Hamilton on Thursday after being adjourned on Wednesday to allow the panel to take part in a series of site visits.