Media Response: Mahurangi Matters

Answers to questions

1. Is there any chance the proposed Auckland Regional landfill (Dome Valley landfill) could be used for imported waste? Either imported hazardous waste or more general waste? If so, what kind of waste is this likely to be?

Hazardous waste is not disposed of at any Waste Management landfill in New
Zealand, regardless of its origin. This will also be the case with Auckland Regional Landfill. Waste Management has international contracts for the treatment (and in some cases disposal) of wastes from New Caledonia because they do not have treatment (for hazardous waste) or disposal facilities (for non-hazardous waste) constructed to an internationally accepted standard.

Any hazardous waste imported from New Caledonia is done so in accordance with permits issued by the NZ Environmental Protection Authority to ensure the waste is treated and disposed of in an environmentally-sound manner by Waste Management’s specialist Technical Services division.

Should Auckland Regional Landfill go ahead, it will have strict Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC) as a condition of its Resource Consent. This was explained in detail at the Auckland Council Resource Consent Hearing and can be found within the public documentation on the Auckland Council website.

In summary, any waste accepted at Auckland Regional Landfill will be consistent with WasteMINZ guidelines for Class 1 municipal landfills. It means hazardous waste will not be accepted at landfill from any local or imported source.

2. Could the landfill be used for disposing of hazardous waste from within New Zealand? If so, what kind of waste is this likely to be?

No, the landfill will not receive hazardous waste. Hazardous waste collected within New Zealand is treated by specialist hazardous waste services, such as Waste Management’s Technical Services division.

3. Why does WM import waste to New Zealand from New Caledonia? About how much waste does WM import from New Caledonia each year?

New Zealand has an obligation under the Waigani Convention and the Basel
Convention (an international treaty on the control of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal) to accept and treat waste from Pacific Island countries if they are unable to process it safely within their own countries.

Waste Management has international contracts for the treatment of wastes (and in some cases disposal of general wastes) from New Caledonia because they do not have treatment (for hazardous waste) or disposal facilities (for non-hazardous waste) constructed to an internationally accepted standard.
Any waste imported from New Caledonia is done so in accordance with permits issued by the NZ Environmental Protection Authority to ensure the waste is treated and disposed of in an environmentally-sound manner by Waste Management’s specialist Technical Services division.

4. About how much waste does WM import from New Caledonia each
year? What happens to the waste WM currently imports from New
Caledonia? Where does the waste end up?

Any hazardous waste imported from New Caledonia is treated at Waste
Management’s Technical Services division so it is no longer hazardous and meets the criteria to be safely disposed in a non-hazardous waste landfill.
Only after hazardous waste has been treated and made safe, can it be disposed of at a landfill such as Waste Management’s Redvale Landfill & Energy Park.