Plenty of people made the most of their chance to get rid of hazardous waste in Te Puke when the Hazmobile made its annual visit to the Western Bay.

The Hazmobile set up base at the Te Puke Recycling Centre on Saturday June 11. Staff from Western Bay of Plenty District Council donated their time for the day to help Chem Waste and Haz-Tech specialists sort out the vast array of materials brought for safe disposal by about 50 people.

Waste oil, old kiwifruit and agricultural materials, garden sprays, DDT, 245T, arsenic, organic phosphates, batteries and many other “nasties” were all sorted and prepared for appropriate disposal.

Among the worst of the materials dropped off was polychlorinated biphenyl chlorinated (PBC) oil that used to for keeping electrical fittings cool. PBC has been banned worldwide for 25 years due to its toxicity and long-term pollution affect.

Almost 1000 litres of waste oil (transmission and diesel oils, lubricants and brake fluid) was collected as were lead paints and other oil products.

Council Utilities Manager Kelvin Hill was pleased with the response but says it could be a struggle to maintain the service in these tight financial times when Council is cutting costs and expenditure.

Already the Hazmobile service has been cut back from twice yearly to once and the cost of running the service (approximately $15,000) is funded by the Council – whereas it was formerly funded by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council.

Kelvin hopes that the success of June’s collection day will justify the continuation of the Hazmobile.

“Let’s face it – it this service stops, all those materials would end up in the landfill or in a hole at the back of a farm or orchard. The environment is the biggest winner,” says Kelvin.

The collected waste ends up in different locations for disposal or recycling. The waste oil goes to the cement works in Whangerei and to Kinleith mill in Tokoroa where it is used for fuel.

Haz-Tech collects and re-packs hazardous materials in approved containers and safely transports them for disposal. Some wastes so to Germany and France, while hazardous household waste and pesticides go to EnviroWaste for treatment to make it safe for landfill disposal.

Next year it is hoped the Hazmobile will visit Katikati.