Silt Collection and Waste

When you call to arrange silt pick up, you will be asked to describe your silt in general, to enable the right disposal site to be selected. There are four types of silt:

• Clean silt – Silt from places like roads and streets, gardens that do not have a septic tank, and does not contain solid items like flood-damaged household furniture.
• Mixed silt – Silt mixed with small amounts of litter such as waste from flood-damaged household goods (e.g. plastic, small toys and food waste), and food affected by the flood, e.g. apples and onions.
• Contaminated silt – Silt that may have had septic tank, spilt paint, diesel, chemicals etc, mixed through.
• Woody silt – Silt mixed with quantities of timber and other storm-related debris like fence posts, trees etc.

A number of silt collection sites have been established and are storing silt around Hawke’s Bay.

HDC and HBRC have been working under the emergency works provisions of the Resource Management Act 1991 to enable works to commence as soon as possible to allow for roading connections to be re-established and drainage areas maintained.

Before any new site is opened it is assessed looking at whether there any special features or characteristics such as: archaeological sites, wahi tapu areas, significant flora and fauna, waterbodies and wetlands, alongside proximity to neighbouring sites and community uses.  Given the urgency of clearing silt and other debris from roading corridors, the six established sites are currently being consented retrospectively.

We’re working through our jobs list from the community, and are prioritising areas where silt is blocking property or drains. The jobs list we have at the moment in April 2023 is for around 700,000m3 of silt, which will take around six months to complete.

The taskforce is looking at a range of options for storing and using silt in the future, and working closely with other councils, industry, and landowners to develop solutions for the region.

We are working hard to reduce double handling as we clear silt around Hawke’s Bay.

If you or contractors working for you have a large amount of silt and are able to move it directly to one of our disposal sites using dump trucks, please get in touch with us on 0800 108 838 and we will work with you.

You need to contact your insurance company regarding this work who can assess the need for silt removal and the best way to do this.

Cleaning or draining of your swimming pool has to be carried out by a suitably qualified or experienced pool company due to the risk of further damage being caused.

If you’re dealing with silt, it’s important to work safely due to the risk of pathogens, such as bacteria or viruses, which are typical following a flood and will decrease over time as they are exposed to air and sunshine. Ensure you’re limiting the risk of infection by:

• using good hygiene, such as wearing gloves, avoiding breathing in dust, and washing hands and exposed skin frequently
• washing freshly soiled clothes regularly

Out of precaution we wouldn’t recommend adding fresh silt into vegetable gardens until spring to allow pathogen levels to decrease.

Lightly silted tanks can be extracted and disposed of at East Clive using a council approved contractor listed on this page.

If you have a larger accumulations of silt, it will require extraction using jetting or another method. Laterals and drainage pipes need to be checked and cleaned if they are blocked. Hastings District Council is currently working through disposal options for larger amounts of septic waste contaminated silt. Contact hdcsilt@hdc.govt.nz to organise a visit from HDC.

The Silt Recovery Taskforce has been working with Insurance Council NZ (ICNZ) and EQC to release an ‘authorised contractor listing’ for landowners to use when removing silt from their properties.

These contractors are authorised by the Taskforce to directly access deposit sites once silt is collected. They understand the delivery model the Taskforce has setup with ICNZ and EQC where the cost for collection and transport to the deposit site is undertaken by the Taskforce, but the work on property and underneath the property to clear and remove silt is at the cost of the landowner – with possible funding for some or all of this work through Insurance and/or EQC payouts.

The contractor listing will regularly reviewed, and added to – if you are a contractor wanting to be added to the list below, please email: waste@hbrc.govt.nz

Further information on the ‘authorised contractor’ process can be found here.