OIA / LGOIMA Clarification – Waste-Derived Fertiliser, Consents, Contaminants, and Farmer Liability

Cc: Records

 

Hey all,​

 

We seek clarification and disclosure regarding any fertiliser, soil conditioner, nutrient product, composted product, recovered-nutrient product, or land-application product associated with chemical waste collection, industrial waste, trade waste, biosolids, or other waste-derived input streams in the Gore / Southland area.

 

This request is made because farmers may later be held responsible for nutrient loss, contaminant movement, freshwater effects, nitrogen limits, or environmental discharge outcomes arising from products that have already been approved, consented, permitted, tolerated, or otherwise allowed into the agricultural supply chain.

 

Please provide the following:

 

1. Product / activity identification

   – The name of each company, facility, product, or activity known to Council / the agency involving the collection, treatment, blending, processing, conversion, or disposal of chemical waste, industrial waste, trade waste, biosolids, recovered nutrients, or other waste-derived material into fertiliser, soil conditioner, compost, or land-application product.

 

2. Consents and approvals

   – All resource consents, trade waste consents, discharge permits, land-use consents, certificates, approvals, exemptions, compliance assessments, or internal determinations relating to those activities.

   – Any conditions controlling what waste may be accepted, what may be excluded, and what testing must occur before product is supplied or applied to land.

 

3. Contaminant testing

   – All testing requirements, laboratory reports, audit reports, sampling plans, contaminant limits, and monitoring results for:

     – heavy metals, including cadmium, lead, arsenic, mercury, chromium, nickel, and zinc;

     – PFAS or persistent organic pollutants;

     – hydrocarbons;

     – pesticides or herbicide residues;

     – solvents or industrial chemicals;

     – pathogens, where relevant;

     – nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur, potassium, and other nutrient loading.

 

4. Farmer disclosure

   – Any documents showing what farmers, contractors, or purchasers are told about the origin of the product, including whether it is derived from chemical waste, industrial waste, biosolids, trade waste, or recovered waste streams.

   – Any safety data sheets, product labels, application guidance, nutrient budgets, warnings, or limitations supplied to users.

 

5. Regulatory responsibility

   – Any documents identifying which agency is responsible for ensuring that waste-derived products are safe before they are placed on farms.

   – Any documents identifying whether liability rests with the manufacturer, collector, consent holder, council, regional council, MPI, supplier, contractor, or farmer if the product later contributes to contaminant runoff, nitrogen exceedance, soil contamination, groundwater contamination, or freshwater effects.

 

6. Freshwater / MPI interface

   – Any correspondence, guidance, memoranda, or internal advice between Council, Environment Southland, MPI, MfE, EPA, or the company about how waste-derived fertiliser or soil-conditioner products interact with:

     – synthetic nitrogen fertiliser caps;

     – freshwater farm plans;

     – nutrient-loss rules;

     – farm environmental reporting;

     – enforcement against farmers.

 

7. Risk assessment

   – Any environmental risk assessment, health risk assessment, soil impact assessment, groundwater assessment, cultural impact assessment, or food-chain / market-access assessment relating to the use of these products on farms.

 

8. Complaints and compliance

   – Any complaints, incident reports, enforcement actions, abatement notices, infringement notices, audit failures, non-compliance findings, or internal concern records relating to these products or facilities.

 

For clarity, this request is not limited to documents using the word “fertiliser”. It includes any product or activity described as nutrient recovery, soil conditioning, composting, beneficial reuse, waste minimisation, land application, by-product recovery, or circular-economy processing where the output is applied to land or supplied for agricultural use.

 

If any part of this request is more properly held by another agency, please transfer that part under the relevant statutory provision and identify the transfer grounds.

 

Please also identify any information withheld, the statutory basis for withholding, and the decision-maker responsible.

 

Regards,

 

Tracy lynch (not a lawyer just a requester)