Tēnā koutou,

Welcome to the third quarterly Mount Maunganui Air Quality Update for 2025, providing news and reporting from Toi Moana Bay of Plenty Regional Council as well as other agencies working to manage industrial activities and air quality concerns.

If you have questions or topics you would like us to include in future editions, please reply to this email – we would love to hear from you. 

Air quality trends

Odour

Calls to the Pollution Hotline about odour persist, with bitumen type odours still featuring in many of these calls (more info below).

Pro-active monitoring of the two asphalt plants continues (Higgins Group Ltd and Allied Asphalt Ltd), when weather conditions permit, and plant operations may result in odour being experienced in the residential area. Proactive monitoring during this period has not resulted in any non-compliance or confirmed breaches of the RMA being identified.

Jenny Simpson of Tonkin & Taylor did a presentation on Identifying and tackling odours in an industrial area at the most recent Air Quality Working Party meeting. You can see her presentation here (from page 28).

Enforcement update

On 27 May 2025, Higgins Group Limited was issued an abatement notice for breaching conditions 12 and 30 of their air discharge consent. This was because of offensive odours released into the air, which were confirmed by staff who responded to Pollution Hotline complaints on 24 February and again on 10 April.

The odours affected a nearby premises within the industrial area. After the April incident, Higgins found a leak in their burner and that their dust-control mister wasn’t working. The notice is still in place, but no further issues have been found since then.

Dust (PM₁₀) – no exceedance for 18 months  

The last confirmed exceedance of the national standards for PM₁₀ in the Mount Maunganui Airshed was on 19 March 2024.

In July 2025, following large swells and strong onshore winds, two exceedances were recorded at the Ranch Road monitoring site (outside the Mount Maunganui Airshed). Both exceedances were suspected to be caused by sea spray.

Benzene

Twenty-one passive benzene monitors were installed across the industrial area in mid-2024, following recommendations from Toi Te Ora Public Health. Benzene is a fuel-related pollutant that can affect long-term health. There is no national environmental standard for benzene, only a guideline of 3.6 µg/m³ (annual average).

Twelve months of monitoring show that all sites are below the annual guideline (see graph below). Given these findings, no further monitoring will be undertaken at this time. A full report will be produced before the end of the year which will contain the recent monitoring results along with earlier investigation results for this contaminant.

Note – Edmund Road and Moses Road sites are in Rotorua. The Kopeopeo site is in Whakatane.

Pollution Hotline

From 1 July to 28 September 2025, we received 16 air quality-related notifications for the Mount Maunganui Airshed. Most related to odour – with bitumen like smells making up six of the total complaints. Remember, the number of complaints doesn’t always reflect actual air quality levels.

Consent update

Resource consents are one of Regional Council’s main tools for managing air quality. Here’s where key Mount Maunganui industrial consents are at:

Port of Tauranga

The Stellar Passage Fast-track application has been lodged with the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA). The Stella Passage Fast-track application applied to the EPA for both extensions (Sulphur Point and Mount Maunganui) and the court found that the lodged and accepted project is larger than the scope of the listing.  This means that they will have to re-lodge their application, excluding the Mount wharf extension from the application, unless the listing scope is changed by the Government.

Genera Limited

Consent was granted by the Environment Court on 13 June 2025.

Lawter

The consent issued by an independent Commissioner Panel at the beginning of May, has been appealed by Ngāti Kuku. Court-assisted mediation is set for 15 October 2025.

WM New Zealand (Waste Management Ltd)

In November 2024, Waste Management updated its application and asked for it to be publicly notified. Council notified the application and received 10 submissions before the deadline in January 2025. A hearing is scheduled for 2–3 December 2025.

Hexion (N.Z.) Limited

Hexion has applied for consent to discharge contaminants into the air. While this application is still in process, it is being processing on a non-notified basis. Hexion can continue their current operations under their existing rights.

Bulk solid materials handling

The Port of Tauranga Limited and three Swaps Stockfoods Limited warehouses in the Mount Maunganui Airshed have been granted Certificates of Compliance to handle bulk solid materials under the interim permitted activity rule. Consent has also been granted (without notification) to the Port of Tauranga for handling gypsum at the Port. 

Plan Change 13: Air Quality

The Plan Change 13 (Air Quality) rules for bulk solid and log handling, along with policy AREA3-P2 on iterative management of air quality in the Mount Maunganui Airshed, are now operative.

Bulk solid material handling

Businesses that handle logs or bulk solid materials within the Mount Maunganui Airshed that are captured by the IPAR (Interim Permitted Activity Rule) requirements have until 12 February 2027 to obtain a Certificate of Compliance and then to apply for a resource consent for their discharge to air. The affected businesses have all submitted a Dust Management Plan, and installed at least one  PM10 monitor, and continue to report on the results and investigate  any exceedances of the IPAR trigger values as required.

Unsealed Yards

The new rules for Unsealed Yards became operative on Friday 29 August. This means that in the Mount Maunganui Airshed:

• Operators with an unsealed yard must have a dust management plan in place by 29 February 2026 to stay a permitted activity until April 2028.
• From April 2028, unsealed yards over 400m² will need a resource consent (restricted discretionary).
• Unsealed yards under 400m² with a dust management plan will continue to be permitted.

Mount Maunganui Industry Environmental Accord: latest news from Priority One

Local businesses are increasingly investing in measures to improve environmental outcomes in Mount Maunganui’s industrial zone and help foster a more balanced relationship between industry and the surrounding community.

Launched in 2024, The Mount Maunganui Industry Environmental Accord, now signed by 32 industrial-zone businesses, signals a shift toward more sustainable and transparent operations. It commits businesses to take up to five voluntary actions each, over the next three years, to measurably reduce environmental impacts.

Accord signatories meet quarterly as the Mount Maunganui Industry Network and have currently shared with the group more than 180 actions they are working on. Priority One is sharing the stories of these improvements (here) and continues to report on consolidated Accord actions to the Mount Air Quality Working Party at its quarterly meetings, where signatories also share environmental progress on their agreed environmental initiatives.

Collaboration to set new standards in bulk material handling

In a joint effort to improve air quality and operational safety at New Zealand ports, Qube Ports NZ has partnered with Page Macrae Engineering – a Mount Maunganui-based company known for its innovative industrial equipment design – to develop a new generation of hopper technology.

Leveraging Qube’s operational expertise and Page Macrae’s engineering capabilities, the teams co-developed the Bulk Master Hopper, a purpose-built solution designed to significantly reduce dust emissions during bulk cargo unloading.

Qube Ports NZ is the first to deploy this technology (launched earlier this year), and early results are promising. When offloading materials such as palm kernel and clinker, the Bulk Master Hopper has demonstrated a clear and measurable reduction in dust emissions compared to conventional hoppers. This not only protects frontline staff but also contributes to cleaner port environments and healthier surrounding communities.

This is a great example of industry collaboration resulting in better environmental outcomes, as well as workplace safety. The Bulk Master Hopper represents a new benchmark in sustainable port operations – read more about this new technology here.

Priority One will continue to report on notable Accord news (here), so to keep up to date with these stories, along with other news on sustainability, innovation and infrastructure, sign-up for our fortnightly newsletter here.

Tauranga City Plan

Air Quality Working Party

The Mount Maunganui Air Quality Working Party held its third meeting of 2025 on Thursday 14 August.

Presentations were made by:

• Emma Jones of Clear the Air Charitable Trust on What success looks like
• Joanne Mahon and Dominic Adams of Ballance Agri-nutrients
• Peter Swan and Bruce Ennis of Page Macrae on their new Environmental Hopper
• Colin Baskin of Priority One on the Mount Maunganui Industry Environmental Accord
• Jenny Simpson of Tonkin & Taylor on Identifying and tackling odours in an industrial area
• Reece Irving of Bay of Plenty Regional Council on the FIDOL (Frequency, Intensity, Duration, Offensiveness, Location) methodology, a tool for compliance investigations to assess odour discharges
• Dr Jim Miller of Toi Te Ora on Air Pollution Health Effects of Odour
• Reuben Fraser of BOPRC on Resource Management System Reform.

The final meeting for 2025 will be held on Tuesday 25^th November.

You can see all presentations and previous meeting minutes here.

Big fines, big consequences for environmental breaches

People who break the environmental rules might find their actions a little more expensive under recent changes to the Resource Management Act.

From 21 August 2025, fines issued under this legislation have jumped significantly. Fines for serious breaches can now be up to $1 million for individuals, and $10 million for companies. Importantly, insurance will no longer be able to cover these fines.

Infringement fees have also increased as of 4 September 2025,  now ranging from $600 to $4,000 depending on the breach and whether the offender is an individual or a company.  

Learn more here.

Latest Monitoring and Operations Committee Report

The Mount Maunganui Industrial Programme reports to the Monitoring and Operations Committee meeting. The most recent Monitoring and Operations Committee meeting was held on Tuesday 2 September 2025 and the agenda can be found here.