Trade waste is the commercial and industrial liquid waste that is disposed of through the Christchurch City Council wastewater network.

Trade waste is the commercial and industrial waste generated from trade activities that is disposed of through the public wastewater network.

Trade waste discharges contain contaminants or characteristics, such as greases, solids, chemicals, flow rate, etc, that need to be managed to protect the wastewater network, the stormwater network, public health and the environment. Some common examples are discharges from restaurants, takeaway outlets, food processors, metal finishers, service stations and chemical manufacturers. 

Trade waste is not intended to capture wastewater discharges from offices or trade premises where the wastewater discharge is unrelated to a trade activity.

The increasing number of commercial and industrial operations results in a significant increase in the amount of trade waste discharged through the wastewater network. Currently, about 10% (15,000 m3) of the wastewater treated at the Christchurch Wastewater Treatment Plant comes from industry.

Trade waste is not necessarily toxic but can be harmful if discharged directly into wastewater without first having the problem substances removed.

Such substances can:

  • harm people's health and safety as well as the environment
  • corrode or block wastewater pipes
  • create odours
  • put extra demands on treatment at the wastewater treatment plant.

Any business found discharging hazardous material into the wastewater network must cease the discharge immediately and will be requested to rectify the problem.

Businesses whose Trade Waste discharge (discharged without agreement from the Council) exceeds maximum acceptable discharge characteristics as outlined in Schedule 1A of the Trade Waste Bylaw 2025 must also stop this action immediately.

Businesses will be asked to co-operate to resolve a discharge issue and prevent a non-complying, potentially damaging discharge from reoccurring. Christchurch City Council may provide advice on requirements and collect evidence of non-complying discharges such as wastewater samples and photographs.

If any Christchurch City Council infrastructure (such as the wastewater network) has been damaged as a result of malpractice, Council may recover all costs incurred in repairing the damage, including administration costs.

If the business is reluctant to co-operate, it will be subject to a tighter timeframe for compliance and if an improvement has not been achieved within a reasonable timeframe, access to the wastewater network will be denied or only granted on a batch discharge basis i.e. after an independent laboratory analysis has shown compliance of the batch to be discharged.

Under section 242 (5) of the Local Government Act, a person who is convicted of an offence against a trade waste bylaw and has not made any reasonable attempt to resolve the problem is liable for a fine not exceeding $200,000.

There are other requirements and penalties for non-compliance that may apply, for example:

  • Local Government Act 2002 provisions concerning damage to Council property, injunctions and removal of works in breach of bylaws which the Council may rely on from time to time, such as sections 162, 163, 175, 176, 232 and 242.
  • Other Council bylaws, such as the Water Supply and Wastewater Bylaw 2022 or the Stormwater and Land Drainage Bylaw 2022.

All businesses that produce liquid trade waste and discharge it to the wastewater network must apply for consent or registration to discharge.

Trade waste consent

A trade waste consent is required by all businesses which discharge trade waste to the public wastewater network. The appropriate category of consent – permitted, conditional (annual or quarterly), or tankered – is determined by the Council on application, based on the nature of the discharge, including volume and discharge characteristics. See the Trade Waste Bylaw 2025 for more information on trade waste discharge requirements.

A trade waste consent may specify:

  • The type of pre-treatment required
  • How often the system needs to be serviced
  • The substances that are allowed to be discharged
  • The volume and/or rate of discharge.

Consents are usually issued for between 1 and 5 years, depending on the type of consent and involve annual or quarterly trade waste charges. It may be necessary to monitor trade waste discharged into the wastewater network.

Transferring ownership

Trade waste consents are non-transferable. The existing owner should inform the trade waste team of their intention to sell the business so consent can be cancelled. The new owner will need to apply via the normal process.

Apply

Apply for a trade waste consent or registration to discharge by completing the relevant form below:

Email your completed form to: tradewaste@ccc.govt.nz or post to:

Water Services, Three Waters
Christchurch City Council
53 Hereford Street
PO Box 73014
Christchurch 8154

Businesses must comply with wastewater quality standards set in the Trade Waste Bylaw. Preliminary treatment of trade waste to remove or reduce harmful substances may need to occur before discharging into the public wastewater network.

Maintenance and cleaning is required for pre-treatment facilities such as grease traps, settling and balance tanks and petrol/oil interceptors. Failure to maintain pre-treatment equipment may result in the owner being liable for any costs of damages to the wastewater network, and the trade waste consent may be withdrawn.

All pre-treatment facilities accumulate residual waste, which is to be removed by an approved operator for treatment for disposal at an authorised waste processing plant.

Pre-treatment Website Brochure Technical drawing
Grease and oil traps Website Brochure [PDF, 959 KB]  
Hair traps Website    
Petrol-oil interceptor   Brochure [PDF, 97 KB]  Technical drawing [PDF, 48 KB]
Washdown areas smaller than 80m²   Brochure [PDF, 1.2 MB]   

If your washdown areas / heavy-duty washdown areas are greater than 80m², please email us or call 03 941 8999 for more information.

Sampling is normally carried out for businesses with discharge volumes of more than 1,245m³ per annum. This is to monitor trade waste compliance and to ensure trade waste fees are charged accordingly.

Routine sampling usually takes place once every quarter and the costs of sampling are passed on to the customer.

Depending on the type of business and wastewater characteristics, Council will specify the sampling criteria and organise the relevant sample containers.

Sampling is carried out either automatically or manually to suit the characteristics under review.

An appropriate sampling point and means of flow recording must be provided. Once the Trade Waste Consent has been issued for your business the Council will contact you to discuss the sampling procedure.

Automatic sampling

This sampling is the most representative method and involves collecting individual samples and then combining them into one composite sample.

Individual samples are taken at a set frequency. Automatic sampling is the usual method for routine sampling and these samples are used for the standard Trade Waste Consent monitoring parameters:

  • pH
  • Suspended Solids
  • Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD5).

Other parameters such as heavy metals may also be analysed on these samples depending on the nature of the business and where the time taken to sample and/or the sample container do not affect the reliability of the test result.

Manual sampling

This sample is collected at a particular instance and represents conditions existing at that moment. Typically, this type of sample is used where only a small number of samples (e.g. two or three) are taken manually over a working day.