On Friday 17 July we joined a hikoi from Albert Park to Aotea Square to protest against the possibility of Dome Valley – Te Whārua o Waiwhiu – north of Warkworth, becoming a major dump site for Auckland City’s rubbish collected by Waste Management Services.
Like Ngāti Whātua ki Kaipara, who organised the march with concerned Wellsford and Warkworth residents, we are appalled by the possibility. This valley includes waterways , some leading directly into the Hoteo River and Kaipara Harbour.
The time has come for the Auckland Council to promote alternatives to environmental vandalism for managing waste from this sprawling city. It has been supportive of small composting and recycling projects around the city – but what we need now is two major changes- first, in Aucklanders’ attitudes to and behaviours with their unwanted stuff, and first equal, a major change from retailers importing, and manufacturers using, toxic and useless packaging and other commonly wasted materials. Heavy levies on such packaging would be a good start- bringing in money for cleaning up messes in an environmentally friendly way.
The time for huge urban dumps has long since passed. We have enough to clean up now (think Fox River, among many others) without creating more, especially in valleys precious to tangata whenua and close to rivers and harbours. Assurances from Watercare about lining the valley are meaningless nonsense- the whole proposal is absurd, and dangerous.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/421434/hundreds-protest-landfill-in-dome-valley
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