New Proposed Trade Waste Bylaw Charging Regime to Affect Many Businesses

Every business in the District, discharging into the Council wastewater system, will be categorised* under the Trade Waste Bylaw (adopted in principle in July). Franklin District Council is proposing a new charging regime for these categories so, if you own a business, Council suggests you look at the proposed charging regime and have your say during the consultation period which starts 6th September.

The categories are permitted, controlled or conditional and Council believes the majority of businesses will be either categorised as “permitted” (no fee applies) or “controlled” (uniform annual charge applies).

“Those businesses requiring a Trade Waste Consent under the Bylaw – that is, those businesses in either the “controlled” or “conditional” categories - will incur a charge. For businesses in the “controlled” categories it is proposed that they pay a flat annual charge of $176.17,” says Franklin District Council’s Asset Manager of Water and Wastewater, Robert Workman.

The “controlled” category will likely include a small to medium size business that has modest volumes of liquid trade waste. So if, for example, you are the business owner of a bakery, bar, butchery, café, health shop, supermarket, takeaway, dentist, doctor, funeral home, hairdresser, mechanic or panel beater this could be you.

The annual fee, called a uniform annual charge (or UAC) by Council, will be used to cover administration and monitoring costs to ensure safe collection, transfer and treatment of liquid trade waste within the District. The UAC will be the same throughout the District regardless of which treatment plant the wastewater ends up in.

Many businesses that have purely domestic wastewater, such as schools and retail businesses, will not require a consent and will not pay the annual fee, as allowed for in the “permitted” category.

A small number of businesses in the District will hold a consent in the “conditional” category and will have a specific charging structure based on the costs of Council receiving and treating the wastewater. They will also pay the UAC. The majority of these businesses have been contacted by the Council. If you are concerned that your business would be in this category but have not heard from Council please contact them.

The proposed charging regime will be an addition to the Fees and Charges Section of the Long Term Council Community Plan. The submission period will run from Thursday 6 September to Monday 8 October.

For more information visit Council’s website – www.franklin.govt.nz – or call Atish Chandra on 09 237 1341.