Exciting new chapter as Whitianga RTS site blessed

Published on 14 April 2025

The site of Whitianga’s new Recycling and Refuse Transfer Station (RTS) has been formally blessed with a groundbreaking ceremony.

Representatives from Ngāti Hei, Wāhi Tukurua (Mercury Bay Resource Recovery Centre Trust), Mercury Bay Community Board and a number of District Councillors joined Thames-Coromandel District Council staff and their contractors Watts & Hughes Construction Group on Thursday to mark the occasion.

Mayor Len Salt said the ceremony was the beginning of an exciting new chapter for Whitianga and the wider Coromandel.

The new facility, on Moewai Road, was a significant project that would serve the community and environment for years to come, he said.

Ngati Hei representative Wiremu Davis said he believed the facility was a ground-breaking movement for the Thames-Coromandel Hauraki region “and it goes along the same line of tikanga Māori [of] understanding and looking after our environment”.

Wāhi Tukurua chairperson Tracey Bell said the new site meant the trust could make the best use of resources out of the community and stop things going to landfill, saving ratepayers’ money.

(L-R) Council Solid Waste Manager Anna Stevens, Wāhi Tukurua Trustees Tiffany Reed, Megan Edmeades, Manus Pretorius, Kat Neilson-Jones, Tracey Bell, Council Chief Executive Aileen Lawrie and Engineering Project Manager Jagdeep Singh.

“It’s great for the community because we will be able to feed it back in, ultimately, we will be able to offer work,” she said.

“It’s a very exciting time.”

Our Council budgeted $11.5 million through the 2024-2034 Long Term Plan (LTP) and a grant of up to $5.9m (50% contribution of total project costs) has been awarded towards the project through the Ministry for the Environment’s Waste Minimisation Fund / Te Pūtea Whakamauru Para.

Construction will begin later this month. The new transfer station will be easier and safer to use and enables Wāhi Tukurua’s new resource recovery facility and on-site shop to be built. The new station is expected to be completed and open to customers by June 2026.

Until then, Whitianga’s existing transfer station will remain in operation.