Otakiri Mega Bottling Plant - The Final Battle

Project 2021-02-07 18:06:05 +1300

SUSTAINABLE OTAKIRI IS REFUSING TO WALK AWAY FROM ITS DAVID AND GOLIATH BATTLE AGAINST WATER BOTTLING GIANT CRESSWELL NZ

Below is what's being proposed by Cresswell. A kiwifruit orchard will be levelled to make way for a 16,800m2 water bottling factory.

THE FACTORY WILL... 

Take up to 1.1 billion litres of deep-aquifer water each year

Discharge up to 4,500 litres per day of high-phosphorus process water to a local stream that flows into the already polluted Tarawera River

Produce up to 3.7 million plastic bottles each day - up to 1.35 billion plastic bottles per year!

Produce an additional 6m3 of compressed plastic waste daily

Export the majority of its bottled water

Create 202 truck and trailer journeys between Tauranga and Otakiri each day - that's one truck every 3 minutes

OUR NEXT STEP IS TO GET TO THE COURT OF APPEAL

AND IF YOU CAN HELP US DO THAT WE WILL BE FOREVER GRATEFUL!!

To get to the Court of Appeal and argue our case we will need to raise at least $60,000 to pay legal fees and court costs

Ngati Awa is also fighting this battle - the runanga is currently seeking leave to appeal the Decision on the regional consent

Sustainable Otakiri is seeking leave to appeal the Decision on the land use consent that enables the construction of the 16,000m2 bottling plant. 

We are both arguing that the production and disposal of plastic bottles should have been considered.

To be clear, this case is not just about one water bottling plant in Otakiri; the recent Decisions on our case have made it easier, not harder, for future water bottling applications and we can’t just let those Decisions lie – they need to be challenged. NZ’s water resources are wide open to exploitation by water bottling companies.  That’s because it is a new and almost wholly unregulated industry. NZ has had a small water bottling industry for a long time now, largely supplying the domestic market (which is approximately 158 million litres annually).  However, in recent years we’ve seen applications to take much more water and export volumes have risen sharply:  in the year ending March 2017, NZ exported 28 million litres of bottled water; in 2019 that had risen to 160 million litres per year. Now, Creswell wants to export 580 million litres per year! 

Unfortunately, no Government policy change or moratorium can help us in this case, so we need to keep fighting and we need to create better caselaw – including ensuring the effects of plastic waste must be considered.

Please pledge if you can, but if you can’t pledge please share this page via email or social media and tell your friends and family.  We can use any help you can give us!

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