21 May 2021
Re: Christchurch City Council Contractor Forum
To: contractorforum@ccc.govt.nz
From: Alimentary Systems Limited
Re: Creating Value From Waste - Helping Council reach Carbon Zero
Kia ora <name removed>
Thank you for putting together a forum for contractors to contribute to the Council’s approach. Our company is not based in Christchurch so we were unable to attend physically. Our response below is in regards to 3 waters, major facilities, capital programmes associated with managing waste streams
Our interest in Canterbury is that we are looking to establish our business in the region, bringing in offshore investment and creating green jobs focused on the UN Sustainability Goals.
We have several partners based in Christchurch who are existing contractors to the Council and one of our founders Harmaan Madon, who is an Edmund Hillary Fellow, has spoken at a Council Economic Development event, pre Covid19.
Circular Economic Models
We because the Council needs to take action to prevent climate change, yet current waste solutions focus on compliance and procurement leaves little room for innovation. We realise the Council can't replace the current waste methodology overnight, it’s too risky to rely on new technologies that are unproven in a local context.
Yet, climate change isn't slowing down and we’d like your help to understand how we can engage because we believe the Council can save millions of dollars by converting waste into value and minimising the duplication of resources.
We have the technology that takes green waste and wastewater sludge and combines it into a single stream to create energy. This prevents all organic waste being sent to landfills.
Connecting Silos
We would like to understand how to work with Council to apply an R&D budget of $2M for a project to minimise Council waste streams.
Councils traditionally procure waste services as separate streams;
Landfill
Green Waste
Waste Wastewater.
We've assessed the procurement process in several Councils from GETS they don’t make and references for circular systems, regenerative systems or bioenergy production. We don’t intend to criticize these teams, they are not enabled to take risks or experiments and often even the advisors for the RFP have limited experience in transformational wastewater technologies.
Funding for research & development exists because of Climate Change; The Ministry of the Environment, The Ministry for Primary Industries and Environment Canterbury all have budgets focused on reducing nitrates, reducing carbon emissions and regenerative agriculture models.
Government policy is impacting the way we need to work; climate, water, land, air - all elements have policies that are forcing us to think differently; increasing landfill levy, tax nitrates in water and emissions levys.
We need the combined support of the sustainability portfolio, with the support of the infrastructure operations manager because of the impact on Council operations. Without the land for a pilot and Council diverting a portion of the waste stream, we can’t demonstrate the efficacy of the waste to the energy conversion process.
Build Social Equity
The consolidation of organic waste from landfills, wastewater treatment plants, green waste centres and sludge ponds can’t occur overnight. We all know that if we don’t act soon it will be too late; let's‘ fix the silos’ and look accurately at the holistic total cost for all streams of waste in Canterbury in the context of climate change.
It is especially important as the new legislation impacts primary industry stakeholders in Canterbury, not just Councils, so we believe waste needs to consider the wider regional waste ecosystem and respect Kaitiakitanga.
If Council continues to procure these waste streams as separate we assert tens of millions will be invested into separating waste streams, and these assets will be maintained for decades with an approach that will not help Council meet its Carbon Zero 2050 aims.
Instead, we could provide a reference for other council’s struggling with the same issues, and a showcase for government stakeholders about how to change and reduce nitrates on the land and prevent discharges into waterways.
A New Way Forward
We have a patent and plant design that could over time supplement all of these organic waste processes with one that creates revenue from combining waste sources to create energy.
We’re interested to hear from the Council how we could engage to solve the problem at a small scale, to give the Council evidence that technology can solve our climate change issues and create value from waste?
To be clear, we’re not asking for capital. We need engagement, land adjacent to the existing wastewater treatment facilities and waste.
We will connect academic and scientific communities with the Councils for this project. The Centre for Biowaste Research was established by the Crown Research Institute in 2014 to promote the conversion of waste to energy. The University of Canterbury is promoting a transition engineering course which we are attending.
We also understand the burning of crop residue is an issue and the dairy and meat industry processing sludge also needs a new solution. We have the technical knowledge to solve this problem, yet the work is occurring in silos. We’d like to work with the Council & Environment Canterbury to connect primary industry silos.
The first stage would be a Technical Feasibility to assess the Council waste inputs and Location & land requirements. Then we would assess the Economic Viability by reviewing circular economic modelling.
We expect this desktop study will show the cost of processing waste will dramatically decrease. If this proves to be the case we would then look at including identifying primary industry waste issues and a plan for Iwi engagement based on the alignment to Kaitiakitanga.
We have local partners who are ready to build this technology who are trusted by the Council and the time is right. We understand the Christchurch City Council is planning to receive a green waste RFP & Selwyn Council is investing in wastewater solutions.
We believe the Council is serious about climate change and we'd love to find how we can collaborate while the local council’s are assessing their strategic needs for mixed waste streams.
Nga Mihi
Matthew Jackson
Commercial Director - Alimentary Systems