Trade Waste

Trade waste is processed wastewater from commercial and industrial businesses distinct from human sanitary waste. For example, waste from restaurants, hair salons, garages, food manufacturers and processers, butchers, commercial swimming pool operators etc.

The South Taranaki District Council’s Trade Waste Bylaw is made under section 146(a)(iii) of the Local Government Act 2002, the Bylaws Act 1910, and the Health Act 1956.

The purpose of this bylaw is to:

• Protect the health and safety of all persons within the South Taranaki District, including Council staff, contractors, and the public.
• Protect the cultural and social stability of residential, agricultural, commercial, industrial, forest riparian, and environmentally sensitive lands within the South Taranaki District.
• Protect air, water, and land from solid and hazardous waste pollution, including contamination of ground waters, surface waters, drinking water supplies, and all other natural resources;
• Protect the environment;
• Protect the wastewater system infrastructure;
• Ensure compliance with discharge resource consent conditions;
• Provide a basis for monitoring discharges from industry and trade premises;
• Provide an equitable basis for charging trade waste users of the public wastewater systems to cover the cost of conveying, treating, and disposing of, or reusing their wastes and administering this Bylaw; and
• Encourage waste minimisation, water conservation, cleaner production, efficient recycling and reuse of waste streams at trade premises.

There are four types of trade waste consent:

• Permitted Consent – for very low-risk customers whose effluent is less than 5m3 per day.
• Controlled Consent – for low to medium-risk customers (For example, restaurants, hair salons, butchers, garages, car washes) whose effluent is 5m3 to 20m3 per day.
• Conditional Consent – high-risk customers like food manufacturers and processors with effluent of more than 20m3.
• Tankered Waste Consent –only for tanker businesses.
  The full Trade Waste Bylaw can be downloaded from our website here. South Taranaki District Council Trade Waste Bylaw 2017.pdf
  If you are not sure whether you need a trade waste consent, contact our Trade Waste Officer at tradewaste@stdc.govt.nz

Our Trade Waste Officer can help you identify the type of consent you need. You can contact our Trade Waste Officer at tradewaste@stdc.govt.nz.

• Email tradewaste@stdc.govt.nz to find out whether you need a trade waste consent or not.
• If you need consent, you can download the application form from our website here Trade waste application Form.pdf (southtaranaki.com)
• Fill in the application form and email it to tradewaste@stdc.govt.nz. Alternatively, you can drop it at our main administration building on Albion Street, Hāwera, or any of our seven LibraryPlus Centres across the District. You do not need to pay any fees at the time of application.
• Your application will be assessed, and you will be informed about the application status using the email that you provided on your application.
• You should receive an acknowledgement that your email was received. If you do not receive any acknowledgement email within 24 hours, please phone us at 06 278 0555 or toll-free on 0800 111 323.
• Once your application is approved, we will email you an invoice to pay the application processing fee.
  You can check our website for ways of making payments. Click on our homepage's ‘Pay Online' tab and follow the prompts. Please reference the invoice number or the application number.
• When you pay the invoice, please email confirmation of your payment to tradewaste@stdc.govt.nz
• We will email you a copy of the trade waste consent once payment is received.

Yes, a trade waste consent can be issued for a maximum of five years for a compliant customer, but this depends on the Council. In these five years, you do not need to apply for a new trade waste consent so long as your business operation or business details do not change and there is no change in the discharge quality and volume. You will need to re-apply once the consent expires.

Yes. If you have bought an existing business, you need to apply for a new trade waste consent even if the operation of the business remains the same and the consent has not expired.

Trade waste can contain high strengths of pollutants that need to be pre-treated before being discharged into the wastewater network. If this trade waste is not controlled, it can damage our wastewater system and hinder our ability to fully treat the wastewater before safely discharging into the environment.

Food-related businesses such as takeaway shops, restaurants, butchers, cafes, and bakeries, in fact, any business that processes food on the premises, are likely to discharge oil and grease (fat) into the wastewater network. If oil and grease are discharged in excessive amounts they can solidify and cause sewer blockages, resulting in wastewater overflows, hazards to public health, and pollution of the environment. The most common method of pre-treatment for these types of businesses is a grease trap. We have a grease trap guideline available on our website here for your information.

These types of businesses will have oil and fuel that gets washed off mechanical parts, equipment, vehicles, or small spills. Oil and fuel are referred to as petroleum hydrocarbons. The most common pre-treatment for wastewater of these types of businesses is an oil and grit interceptor. The oil floats to the top and the grit settles to the bottom of the interceptor. The interceptor must be of the right size for each situation, and it must be emptied regularly to ensure it works properly.

Our Trade Waste Officer carries out random inspections of permitted discharges. The officer also does random monitoring of discharges to verify that they are within approved limits and responds to reports of blockages from Council contractors who maintain the sewers and clear blockages as they occur. Sampling is also carried out and sent to an approved laboratory for analysis.

You do not need to apply for trade waste consent, but you will be listed as a permitted customer. We will issue you a permitted consent with conditions for no cooking on site. No application fee or any other type of fee will be required for this consent.

If an inspection is needed to verify information on your trade waste application, the Trade Waste Officer will advise you before the inspection happens. However, once you have your consent, you might be inspected to see whether you are meeting your pre-treatment conditions with no advance warning.

You do not need to apply for trade waste consent if you are not connected to the Council’s wastewater network anywhere in the District. However, if you dispose of trade waste using tanker trucks, you need to discuss that with our Trade Waste Officer before any waste is discharged.

The trade waste bylaw is for all businesses discharging processed wastewater into the Council’s wastewater system. If we find anyone who is not abiding by the trade waste bylaw will be investigated with the option to prosecute.