We’ve made a decision on the Trade Waste Bylaw 2025

The Council decided to approve the Trade Waste Bylaw, on Wednesday 7 May 2025.

Council received 24 submissions on the proposed amendments to the Trade Waste Bylaw. A Hearings Panel considered and deliberated on all submissions received and recommended the following changes to the bylaw. These changes were subsequently agreed to by the Council, and were included in the final form of the bylaw.

The changes resulting from consultation are:

• A change to the definition of ‘dewatering’ to clarify that stormwater runoff is not unintentionally captured.
• A change to the explanatory note to the definition of trade waste to clarify that trade waste does not include wastewater discharges from premises where the discharge is not related to a trade activity.
• A change to the explanatory note on clause 10 to set out that the Council may also consider accepting the discharge of water from dewatering activities to the wastewater network where there is no stormwater network available, for clarity and completeness.
• A change to schedule 1A (plus subsequent changes), to clarify how the new limit for silts and sediments (previously termed “inorganic mineral solids”) applies.

• Amendments to the proposal regarding the prohibition of PFAS (Schedule 1B), including clearer parameters on acceptable PFAS discharge in relation to current guidance, the types of PFAS regulated, and the avenue for consent as an exception as appropriate, on a case-by-case basis.

You can read the meeting minutes below, which include the formal resolutions.

You can also watch the decision being made below.

What happens next?

The Trade Waste Bylaw 2025 will come into effect on 1 July 2025.

To find the decision in the recording fast forward the meeting video to hour 1.22.