Tauranga City Council is calling for people to have their say on the current trade waste bylaw.

The Local Government Act 2002 requires all bylaws to be reviewed no later than 10 years after their last review, so the council's current trade waste bylaw is now due for review.

Trade waste is liquid (usually water) used in trade and industrial operations, and that is discharged to the wastewater system – with or without matter in suspension.

The trade waste bylaw sets the rules about what can be discharged into the wastewater system, and the requirements around these discharges, like limits on pollutants.

'The purpose of this bylaw is to help protect the health and safety of our community and our environment, and council-owned wastewater assets and infrastructure,” says a Tauranga City Council communications spokesperson.

'Having this bylaw means that everyone knows the rules, and that we can take enforcement action where necessary.”

What changes are council proposing?

A technical expert reviewed the bylaw to check whether the requirements it sets are still relevant and suitable to protect our community and environment.

'This review concluded that there are no issues with the trade waste bylaw as it is, so we're not proposing any changes to current requirements,” says council.

'The one change we are proposing is to replace reference to the ‘wastewater network' with ‘wastewater system'.”

This means the bylaw would apply to the entire system for collection, treatment and disposal of wastewater (all sewers, pumping stations, storage tanks, wastewater treatment plants, outfalls and other related structures operated by the council), not just the network (the pipes).

'We're also proposing to remove some definitions that are not used in the bylaw, and some minor edits to improve the clarity of the bylaw.

'The proposed changes don't impact on Tauranga residents or businesses. However, as we are reviewing the bylaw, this is the time for people to let us know if they have any comments on this document.

'If they think it doesn't do its job, or if they think it does, we want to hear people's thoughts.”
The draft amended bylaw is available at www.tauranga.govt.nz/tradewaste for review, along with an online submission form.

The submission period runs until 5pm on Monday, 6 August 2018.
Paper copies are also available at the customer service centre at 91 Willow Street and in libraries.