Photo: Supplied via RNZThe Barkers jam maker is already in trouble with its neighbours over stinky wastewater ponds, and now it wants to dump the waste on to DOC land. With the backdrop of the Southern Alps and a pristine river running by the famous jam-maker, Barker's factory tells the ideal story of a successful New Zealand business. What's not captured in that idyllic image is the stench of its wastewater ponds and the company's solution, that involves spraying five Olympic-sized pools of liquid on to nearby conservation land. The Timaru Herald's Federico Magrin has also been digging into Barker's wastewater practises and found it has been in tense discussions with ECan and DOC over it for months. Williams says it is not the first time that Barker's has sprayed wastewater onto the DOC reserve.

Source: Otago Daily Times February 22, 2026 19:34 UTC