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Waimea Weekly - 20 March 2024

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Waimea Weekly

PH 544 4400

Locally Owned and Operated

24 Champion Road, Richmond wrfs.co.nz

Wednesday 20 March 2024

The gift of chicks

Alex chases tennis dream Page 5

Page 25

NZ-first bioenergy plant one step closer MAX FRETHEY

Local Democracy Reporter

A bioenergy plant soon to be built in Nelson Tasman is hoped to eventually unlock the ability to reduce New Zealand’s total emissions by 5 per cent and save the country upwards of $1 billion.

The project will be the end of multiple years of work by Alimentary Systems to get to this point. “Nelson takes our patent from lab to pilot,” says co-founder Matthew Jackson. “The purpose of the project is to show that we can do zero waste,

zero liquid discharge and zero emissions, and reduce ratepayers’ costs.” The Bioenergy Resource Recovery Plant (BRRP, pronounced ‘burp’) is hoped to be commissioned on Bell Island, adjacent to the wastewater treatment plant, by mid-2026.

The BRRP is a circular system that combines the carbon in organic waste and the nitrogen in wastewater sludge to create methane gas and a synthetic fertiliser replacement. The methane is then used to power the plant, with the fertiliser and any remaining gas then able

to be sold for a profit. “We’re trying to figure out a way where the system can extract so much value that we can change the behaviour,” Matthew says. He adds that the technology has been proven overseas and the

SEE PAGE 7

Richmond’s May Armstrong and Laura Paynter joined more than 1000 people who squelched, splished and slithered their way across the mud flats near Tasman School on Sunday, for the annual Muddy Buddy fundraiser. Photo: Chris Symes/ Shuttersport.

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