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Waste Solid Waste
Limitations of the solid waste disposal indicator
The solid waste disposal indicator reports on landfills that receive municipal, industrial and hazardous waste. It does not report on other waste disposal facilities, for example waste disposed of to cleanfills or to landfills that accept only industrial and/or hazardous waste, incinerated waste or legacy waste (eg, stockpiled tyres or agrichemicals). The indicator does not specifically report on liquid, gaseous and hazardous wastes, although some potentially hazardous waste is included in estimates of solid waste disposed of to landfills.
Waste composition data is based on physically sorting or visually estimating the various components of the waste stream in each vehicle sampled. Because of the high degree of variation in the proportions of waste types in each vehicle sampled, the measurements have a precision of ±20 per cent for major components. The precision is likely to be lower for smaller components of the waste stream. Please note that the results presented by this indicator are, therefore, indicative estimates rather than statistically significant measurements.
The indicator does not measure any activities aimed at minimising waste and increasing resource efficiency, such as improvements to production methods. Nor does it measure the decoupling of waste generation from influencing factors, such as population and economic growth.
This information has come from the Solid waste composition environmental report card and Environment New Zealand 2007
Last updated: 31 July 2009
