Hazardous Waste

Hazardous waste management in New Zealand

There is currently no comprehensive or integrated statutory framework covering the management of hazardous waste in New Zealand. Current management of hazardous waste is subject to a complex array of statutes, bylaws and regulations policy documents and waste management plans including the: Resource Management Act 1991, Local Government Act 1974, Health Act 1956 and Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996. Also see the Canterbury Hazardous Waste Management Strategy, Download the Strategy as a pdf file (444k).

The Ministry for the Environment's Hazardous Waste Management Programme was established in 1997 to review, and develop proposals to improve, management of hazardous waste in New Zealand.  The vision for the Hazardous Waste Management Programme is:

To eliminate adverse effects on human health and the environment from the generation, transportation, treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous wastes

Find out more about the Ministry’s Hazardous Waste Management Programme .

A definition of hazardous waste

To help business and industry clearly establish whether or not a waste is hazardous the Ministry for the Environment has been working on a Definition of Hazardous Waste .

The Definition sets out technical criteria that for assessing the hazardous characteristics of a waste. This will involve scientific testing of waste for hazardous characteristics. To reduce the cost and time involved with scientific testing, the Ministry has developed a list of wastes, including those that are typically hazardous called the New Zealand Waste List (L-Code) . The New Zealand Waste List is the easiest, quickest way to determine if a waste is hazardous. If there is an asterisk next to the waste’s 6-digit code, it is likely to be hazardous and should be managed as a hazardous waste. The L-Code is a step toward the adoption of a common language for identifying wastes and will form the basis for a nationally consistent hazardous waste record-keeping system.

Hazardous waste management In Canterbury

Territorial authorities in Canterbury are working together to improve management of hazardous waste in Canterbury.  This regional approach recognises that there are issues relating to the management of hazardous wastes, which extend across territorial boundaries within the region, and across the regional boundary. As a result of this commitment the Canterbury Hazardous Waste Management Strategy was developed.

An initial investigation prioritised hazardous wastes on their potential to harm to the environment.  Seven types of hazardous waste streams were identified as high priority for management, these were:

• Industrial wastes
  -  cyanide wastes
  -  chlorinated solvent sludge wastes
  -  metal processing wastes
  -  boron and copper, chromium and arsenic timber treatment sludge wastes
  
• agrichemical wastes
• domestic hazardous wastes
• waste oil

The long-term objective of the Strategy is to eliminate the adverse effects of hazardous waste on the environment. While there are benefits in reducing the volumes of hazardous wastes produced, the Strategy is based on reducing and eventually eliminating the impacts of hazardous waste on the environment. This objective will be met by improving waste management practices within the region and by applying the following waste management hierarchy;

• Reduce
• Reuse
• Recycle
• Recover 
• Residual Management