Residents outraged with proposal to build toxic waste management plant in their Canterbury neighbourhood

Locals in the small Canterbury town fear the impact it will have on their lives.

Outraged Prebbleton residents have put forward their submission to Environment Canterbury today, in a bid to stop a toxic waste management plant from being built in their backyards.

The proposal would allow Waste Management to expand their current facility in Prebbleton, southwest of Christchurch, and replace their toxic waste plant in Bromley.

The new plant would include an open-air tyre shredding machine and facilities to process solvents, heavy metals, petrochemicals and septic waste.

It’s got local residents concerned, and fearful their semi-rural lifestyle would be heavily affected.

“We built here 10 years ago to have this nice lifestyle and we try life a healthy lifestyle, and it’s not perfect but we don’t want those extra toxins,” said Angela Jones.

Hamish Prebble, whose family purchased the settlement generations ago, also strongly opposes the plant.

“I’m very concerned for our air that we breathe, I’m very concerned for the water and worried for the land,” he said.

Because the proposed site is zoned “heavy industrial”, all that’s needed is resource consent for air discharge.

However, residents are outraged submissions were only open to those living in a 500m radius, which is only around 30 properties.

“We have a lot of affected parties that haven’t had a say, one of particular concern is the market gardener 50m across the road where we have commercial veges for human consumption.

“Then down the road I have an open air retail site, Texture Plants and we have Healthy Harvest selling veges to the public everyday and they’re in the open air,” said Mr Prebble.

In a statement, Environment Canterbury said waste treatment will occur indoors with daily monitoring of odours and testing of waste material.

But that hasn’t appeased residents, with more than 500 turning out to a public meeting earlier this week.

They’re now prepared to take the matter to the High Court should their upcoming hearing be unsuccessful.

The judicial battle could cost upwards of $50,000.

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