Interim Environment Court Order Cancelled - Nuplex Installs Impressive New Firefighting System -
Statement from John Hirst, Managing Director, Nuplex Industries Limited
The Environment Court has cancelled its interim order to shut down parts of the Nuplex Environmental industrial waste
management site at East Tamaki after independent experts agreed the site was safe to operate.
This is a vote of confidence by independent experts on Nuplex’s ability to operate a safe, reliable and environmentally
friendly waste processing operation.
Three independent experts inspected the site on Thursday last week and deemed it safe to operate, including Ron McDowall
from the University of Auckland who previously deemed parts of the site to be unsafe because of a fire risk.
The fire risk has been substantially mitigated by Nuplex who took immediate precautions by installing a number of world
class fire safety measures.
Last Thursday the company tested a new deluge system that shoots vast amounts of water and foam up to a 30 metre radius
over the site in the case of any form of fire, effectively isolating the fire and limiting the chances of it spreading
to other parts of the operation. State-of-the-art air monitors installed on site immediately detect heat and set the
deluge system off within seconds, also sending a signal immediately to the local fire service.
Other experts who inspected the site were John Downey, Enviroservices, a Manukau City Council appointed expert, and John
Wheadon, Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM), an independent expert.
The Manukau City Council had already indicated it would issue a provisional dangerous goods licence. Nuplex expects to
be in a position to have granted a new, full dangerous goods licence. The company will be working closely with the
Council to ensure that all requirements for a full licence are met or exceeded.
The dangerous goods licence proposed by the Manukau City Council is a first for Nuplex and for the Council in that it
imposes a comprehensive set of conditions reflecting independent advice, site audits and recommendations from experts
SKM and John Downey..
The East Tamaki operation plays a vital role in protecting the greater environment from illegal or inappropriate
disposal of waste and has been one of Auckland’s most trusted hazardous waste sites for over 40 years.