A new rubbish compactor is being installed at the Ashburton Resource Recovery Park this week.

The new $350,000 compactor, made in Dunedin, will crush solid waste from the pit face and push it into containers to be transported to the regional landfill at Kate Valley.

Group Manager of Infrastructure and Open Spaces Neil McCann said the old compactor was 23 years old and in its twilight years, after a faithful and hard-working tour of duty.

“Compacting is an all-day, every-day activity at the resource recovery park and the old one should have been replaced after 15 years, given the workload. We’ve been keeping it going with maintenance and some specific repairs, but that is getting too expensive to continue."

The new compactor has a more powerful hydraulic ram, which means more solid waste can be crushed for transport.

There are between 50-60 truck and trailer trips each month to Kate Valley, with a monthly volume of about 1200 tonnes. An average of four containers are filled a day.

Mr McCann said each trip cost about $1400 in transport fees, and the new compactor would allow more solid waste to fit inside each container.

“So we’ll see fewer trips to Kate Valley, which will be a saving, and have a compactor that will not be regularly breaking down. Installing this new machine is quite a major event in the life of our resource recovery park and we’re looking forward to seeing it operating.”

The old compactor crushed its last load on Sunday, and it was then disconnected and removed.

The new compactor should be commissioned by Friday.

Below: The old compactor after removal.