Tēnā koutou,

As 2025 draws to a close, we wanted to look at how the air quality landscape is changing in the Mount Maunganui Airshed. This final newsletter for the year highlights key improvements, trends and what’s coming next.  

What’s happening?

Air quality in Mount Maunganui continues to improve, thanks to a combination of stronger consent conditions, new rules for dust generating sites and activities, industry investment in cleaner technology, and changes in on-site activities. This progress is reflected in the steady decline in exceedances of the national standards for fine dust (PM₁₀), which sets minimum health protection levels for all New Zealanders.

One of the most encouraging signs is the growing number of businesses joining the Priority One Mount Maunganui Industry Accord and actively participating in the Mount Air Quality Working Party hui. This collective commitment is making a difference on the ground.

Launched in October last year, 33 businesses have now signed up to the Accord and collectively committed to more than 200 actions to improve environmental outcomes. More than 100 actions were completed in the first year. The Accord’s Steering Group is currently requesting commitment to an additional three actions from all businesses.

What’s next?

Looking ahead, Dust Management Plans are due to be submitted to the Regional Council for all unsealed yards in the Mount Maunganui Airshed by 28 February 2026.

To help make this process easier we have recently added a Dust Management Plan guideline and template to the bottom of this webpage. Please remember, if the unsealed area of your site is more than 400m², your Dust Management Plan will need to be reviewed by a Suitably Qualified and Experienced Practitioner.

Development of the Mount Maunganui Airshed Regulatory Implementation Action Plan also continues in collaboration with key partners who have a regulatory role in managing PM₁₀.

We are currently working our way through the implications of New Zealand's proposed new planning system, the Planning Bill and Natural Environment Bill, and how this will impact zoning and resource consents.

At the time of writing, the new bills have been proposed and are due to have their First Reading in Parliament. They will then be referred to Select Committee and the dates for the submission period will be set. You can find out more about the process here.

Major progress on sulphur dioxide

Tackling fine dust 

Particulate matter (PM₁₀ ) remains one of the main air quality issues for Mount Maunganui. Unlike SO₂, PM₁₀ comes from a range of sources, including dusty unsealed yards, handling of bulk solid materials and the transfer of dusty cargo. These are harder to quantify, but can be effectively managed with the right controls in place.

Over the past few years, all activities with the potential to generate fine dust have come under strengthened rules though Plan Change 13 and will now need to operate with a Dust Management Plan overseen by the Regional Council. Many industries have proactively tightened their dust controls even further.

These efforts are paying off. Regional Council monitoring has shown a significant reduction in  PM₁₀ levels since 2019 and no exceedances of the national standards have been recorded for the past 18 months.

Note: We are currently reviewing our network of air quality indicators in residential Mount Maunganui to ensure they are where they are most needed to deliver information for managing air quality across the wider Bay of Plenty. These indicators support our more accurate reference grade network of monitors. We will continue to keep you updated.

Odour

Odour remains a significant issue for some people working in, or living close to, the industrial area, with common complaints linked to bitumen, hydrogen sulphide (‘rotten egg smell’) and other industrial processes.  

While businesses on industrial-zoned land are permitted to produce some odour, the rules are clear there should be no noxious, dangerous, offensive or objectionable odour discharged beyond a property boundary. Verifying a breach of these rules can be difficult as real-time monitoring technology is limited, so we rely on trained staff to investigate reports. 

Other contaminants  

Across the Mount Maunganui area, we measure a range of other contaminants too. This monitoring focuses on pollutants with known health impacts, including total reduced sulphur (TRS) and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂). You can view this data on our Environmental Data Portal.

In June 2024, 21 passive benzene monitors were installed across industrial and residential areas of Mount Maunganui. This was following recommendations in the Environmental Health Report commissioned by Bay of Plenty and Lakes Public Health: Air Pollution: Health Risk Assessment Mount Maunganui.

New Zealand does not have a National Environmental Standard for benzene, only a guideline set by the Ministry for the Environment. National Environmental Standards are legally binding, while guidelines are advisory and serve as a reference for air quality management. The recorded benzene levels were below the annual guideline value for the duration of the 12-month monitoring period. 

Air quality trends

Particulate matter 

Levels of recorded PM10 continue to trend down at most monitoring sites (see figure below), with a clear decline in the number of exceedances of the national limits. You can view verified industrial air quality data here (desktop only) or get an indication of air quality in real-time here.

The last confirmed  PM₁₀  breach was recorded on 19 March 2024.

Note: The four exceedances we applied to the Minister for the Environment for, covering April and July, have been approved as exceptional circumstances, due to natural particulate sources causing the exceedance.

Odour

From 1 October to 15 December, we received 20 air quality-related complaints for the Mount Maunganui Airshed. Most related to odour, with bitumen-like smells making up four of the total complaints. Remember, the number of complaints doesn’t always reflect actual air quality levels.

Exceedances under Interim Permitted Activity Rule

If you’re operating under the Interim Permitted Activity Rule for bulk solid materials or log handling, and getting lots of exceedances, the consent process will be more complex.

Several businesses in the Mount Maunganui Airshed are currently operating under the Interim Permitted Activity Rule (IPAR) for bulk solid materials or log handling. Under these rules, businesses must already have air quality monitors in place and must report and investigate any exceedances of the IPAR trigger values for PM₁₀ concentrations:

• 1 hour, rolling average: 150 µg/m³
• 12 hour, rolling average: 65 µg/m³.

Note, an exceedance of these values triggers an internal site investigation with the intention that improvements to dust control measures will be made. It is not an enforceable limit. The National Environmental Standards for Air Quality set an enforceable limit of 50 µg/m³ for a 24-hour average PM₁₀ concentration.

All bulk solid materials and log handling businesses operating under this rule only have until 12 February 2027 to obtain a Certificate of Compliance, if they choose to do so (see below). After 12 February 2027, resource consent is required for ongoing operations and consent applications must be lodged with the Regional Council prior to this date.

To be able to apply for a consent, any applicant must either hold a Certificate of Compliance, in accordance with the IPAR, or have a measurable discharge of less than 2.5 µm PM10 per cubic metre to meet the requirements of Regulation 17 of the National Environmental Standard for Air Quality.

The community has made it clear that poor air quality is unacceptable. Therefore, the IPAR promotes a continuous improvement cycle of upgrades using the monitoring data to support a consent application, alongside an assessment of off-site effects when a consent is applied for in 2027.

Sites operating under the IPAR are required to monitor their discharges (this doesn’t apply to unsealed yards). The on-site monitoring is an indication of the effectiveness of the on-site mitigation (dust control measures) and should feed into continuous improvement and upgrades. Many or frequent exceedances may result in more stringent consent conditions and a requirement for additional technological solutions.

The Regional Council will continue to work with operators to improve performance, hold them accountable where necessary, and require robust management practices to reduce dust emissions.

Reminder: All Dust Management Plans required by this rule must be reviewed by a Suitably Qualified Environmental Professional at least once every calendar year. Any updated version resulting from this review must be provided to the Regional Council within one month.

Meet Joey McKenzie, Environmental Manager at Port of Tauranga

Priority One recently highlighted the work by Environmental Manager at Port of Tauranga, Joey McKenzie, in this story.

New Councillors

In October, we welcomed our new Councillors, which saw changes made to our committees. As such, the Mount Maunganui Industrial Programme will now report to the new Regional Delivery and Evaluation Committee. This is chaired by Tauranga constituency Councillor Kate Graeme.

At this time of writing this, the first meeting for this Committee is set to take place on 17 March 2026.