A Tauranga fumigation company wants to bury filters used to capture toxic methyl bromide gas at Tasman's Eves Valley landfill because it's cheaper than shipping them to Auckland for disposal.

Genera Ltd uses sealed carbon filters to recapture the 4.3 tonnes of methyl bromide it uses each year to fumigate export logs and timber at Port Nelson.

Methyl bromide is a toxic ozone-depleting gas used to fumigate imported and exported goods and its use is banned by the European Union.

The port company has required Genera to recapture the methyl bromide for the last two years by using gas-proof tarpaulins and filters made from 44-gallon drums and activated carbon.

Until now, Genera has sent the used carbon filters to a hazardous waste company in Auckland for disposal.

However, on October 7 the company objected to resource consent conditions involving the storage and disposal of the used filters.

Genera Nelson spokesman Jamie Nordstrom said one load had already been dumped at Eves Valley, and it cost a lot to send the material to Auckland, though they were better equipped to deal with it.

"They're probably dealing with all sorts of nasty stuff."

Mr Nordstrom said the cost to Genera included the drums to ship the filters and freight charges.

He believed it was taking a long time to get approval because the use of methyl bromide was "political".

"The problem here is that everyone's so scared and no-one wants to make a decision, they just keep passing it along."

However, he understood that once methyl bromide was trapped in carbon, it was "pretty benign stuff, believe it or not".

"It's quite fine to dump in landfills ... it breaks down.

Nelson City Council senior planner Mike Durand said in previous resource consent hearings, Genera had presented evidence to the Environment Court that the toxic material broke down in landfill sites. He said Genera was looking at "a few options" for disposal including Eves Valley,