Residual Waste Management

This is the final treatment and/or disposal of a waste that cannot be used in any other way. Within Canterbury residual management is normally disposal with a landfill. 

Landfills

Landfilling of waste is the most widely used disposal route in New Zealand, with approximately 3.2 million tonnes of waste disposed of in landfills annually.

In the past, places for taking rubbish were simply holes in the ground, with little or no controls or management and they were more appropriately referred to as dumps or tips. Many of these were located near riverbanks or in quarries where there was potential for ground and surface water contamination. 

Modern landfills still work by burying waste in the ground, but in contrast they  are highly engineered, controlled and monitored. They have liners to contain leachate, a leachate collection and treatment system, a cap to reduce rain infiltration and a monitoring system to assess the environmental effects.

The Ministry for the Environment has a variety of work relating to landfill practice in New Zealand, including producing guidelines for specific issues, submitting on landfill resource consent applications, and undertaking a review and audit of operating landfill sites throughout New Zealand.

What goes into landfills?

The estimated composition of New Zealand's landfill waste is:

• organic waste 39%
• paper 19 %
• construction and demolition 17% 
• potentially hazardous  8%
• plastic 7%
• glass 2%

Landfills in Canterbury

In the past many landfills or "dumps" in Canterbury were located inappropriately, for example near riverbanks or in quarries, where there was potential for pollution for ground and surface water to occur. Tightening of environmental standards through the implementation of the Resource Management Act 1991 has resulted in many old style dumps or tips in the region being closed down and it is planned that many of the currently operating landfills will close in the next few years as they fill up.

The local authorities in the region are working together to develop one modern well managed secure landfill   rather than developing a large number of smaller local landfills.

In tandem with this regional approach many of the local authorities have adopted zerowaste to landfill   policies.

Transfer Stations

Many of the old style dumps in the region have been replaced by transfer stations. The type of transfer station in the region ranges from controlled stations which are supervised, fenced and locked outside of operating hours through to unmanned skips located in rural communities. Waste from transfer stations is transported offsite to either one of the two major landfills in the Canterbury region- the Burwood Landfill in Christchurch or the Redruth Landfill in Timaru.

To find out information on waste disposal facilities in your district contact your local authority.

Cleanfills

Cleanfills are landfills that are only permitted to accept waste that does not pose a risk to people or the environment. Cleanfills can only take inert wastes, i.e. waste that do not undergo any significant physical, chemical or biological reactions, such as clay, rock, soil, concrete and bricks.