Molehills of silt make mountain of dumped waste

SHANE COWLISHAW

Last updated 12:47 02/03/2011

 

Silt. Piles of it seem to line every Christchurch street, but thousands of tonnes are being trucked out every day.

Staff from Fulton Hogan and City Care, along with student army volunteers, have been out in force shovelling, loading and taking truckloads of the sludge out of the city.

About 120,000 tonnes have been removed so far, with another estimated 60,000 to be taken out by the end of the week.

Fulton Hogan chief executive Bill Perry said the company had about 1000 staff and 400 trucks out on the streets.

They were also fixing bridges and roads and manning cordons, as well as dealing with the liquefaction, despite many of their houses being badly damaged or destroyed.

"I've got to say I'm immensely proud that through the fog of this, these bright orange vests are doing these amazing jobs," he said.

"There are two values going forward. One is a sense of purpose and the other is a sense of hope. I think our people have a sense of purpose by the bucketload. What they're doing makes a real difference."

City Care staff are also out on the streets, mainly working in the northern suburbs.

Construction division manager Martin Walker said 32 subcontractor crews had also been hired and were doing a great job.

"We're amazed at how both our own workforce and the contractors are holding up. A lot of these guys are working with broken homes," he said.