Industrial Waste Treatment and
Disposal in New Zealand
C. A. COWIE, Engineer
Public Health Engineering Section
Office of Chief Designing Engineer
Ministry of Works
Wellington, New Zealand
INTRODUCTION
New Zealand has an area of about 104,000 square miles about the size of
the state of Colorado. Settlement by Europeans began about 1840 and the
population today is 2,269,000. Of the total area some 31,000 square miles
are in cultivation and pasture and 36,000 square miles are unimproved land
in occupation.   The balance is made up of mountain ranges, etc.
The principal industries of New Zealand are those which are known as
"primary" and are pastoral or farming in character. The main products of
these industries are butter, cheese, casein, meat, and wool and it is from
these that the country derives the larger part of its export income. New Zealand is the largest export-import country in the world on a per capita basis
and this makes the country's economy particularly sensitive to world prices.
Any drop in price of our export produce lowers the amount available for imports and general development.
The so-called "secondary" or manufacturing industries are not as yet
highly developed in the country and this is principally due to the lack of raw
materials. What manufacturing industries there are, are usually situated in or
close to urban areas and their wastes are generally disposed of into the municipal sewers.
POLLUTION CONTROL
The program for abatement of pollution in New Zealand is largely in the
hands of the Health Department and the Pollution Advisory Council. The Pollution Advisory Council was set up in 1954 and has representatives from the
government departments concerned in pollution, local government authorities,
and industrialists. The principal functions of the council are to generally appraise the pollution in the country by means of surveys and investigations, to
compile and publish information on ways and means of preventing or reducing
pollution, and to compile codes and regulations setting out standards by which
pollution can be alleviated and providing for enforcement where necessary.
To date the work of the council has been one of persuasion and no regulations on standards have been promulgated. During this period much work has
been done in the treatment of urban sewage but this has not been matched on
the industrial side though a commencement has been made.
Permanent committees have been set up by the council which concern
themselves with the main industrial wastes of the country, viz: trade wastes,
and meat wastes. Much work has been accomplished by some of these committees and is in line with the council's stated policy of giving the larger industries the opportunity to take over responsibility for pollution abatement
provided it is done to the satisfaction of the council.