Preface

The Ministry for the Environment conducted the 1998/99 National Landfill Census between November 1998 and January 1999. The census covered open and closed municipal landfills, dedicated landfills and cleanfills, and sought to establish the current state of landfill management practice in New Zealand. In brief, the results indicated:

an improvement in the number of consented landfills, although there are still landfills operating without the necessary consents
a significant level of non-compliance, with one-third of landfills having breached their resource consents since 1995
a poor performance by landfill operators in the management of hazardous waste
a decrease in open burning at landfills, although burning still occurred at 24 percent of landfill sites in 1998
a small improvement in landfill management training
conditions still varying considerably throughout the country
evidence of inadequate management of closed landfills.

The 1998/99 census showed that there had been some improvement since the 1995 census, but that overall the standard of landfills and landfill management practice in this country is still not good enough.

The results of the latest survey stimulated the development of the Ministry's Landfill Management Programme. The Ministry's aims for this programme are the adequate management of landfills and their environmental risk, by councils and other owners, through:

controlling adverse and potential environmental effects from open and closed landfills
managing landfills in an efficient and effective manner.

The objectives of the programme are for:

all landfills to be adequately engineered, consistent with national guidelines
all landfills to be consented and compliant with consent conditions
landfill consent conditions to reflect nationally consistent standards of environmental management
the practice of open burning to be banned
all landfills to be managed by appropriately trained operators
hazardous waste to be effectively managed and controlled
closed landfill sites to be monitored and effectively managed
the true cost of landfill management to be met through the correct pricing of waste disposal.

The Landfill Management Programme comprises:

the development and implementation (with local government and other interested parties) of landfill management guidelines
an exercise to audit and review landfills around the country
selected intervention in the resource consent process, where appropriate.

The Ministry's expectations are reflected in the guidelines that have been produced to assist the management of waste and landfills. The following documents produced by the Ministry for the Environment have been prepared through the programme:

A Guide to the Management of Closing and Closed Landfills in New Zealand (2001b)
Guide to Landfill Consent Conditions (2001a)
Guide to Managing Cleanfills (2002)
Solid Waste Analysis Protocol (2002)
New Zealand Waste Strategy (2002)
Landfill Full Cost Accounting Guide for New Zealand (2002).

In addition, the Centre for Advanced Engineering's Landfill Guidelines (funded by the Sustainable Management Fund) were re-published in May 2000. This guideline, together with the Ministry guidelines, provides a clear basis for the standards of landfill management the Ministry expects to be achieved by 2010.

For further information on using the FCA model, please contact:

Ministry for the Environment
PO Box 10-362
Wellington, New Zealand
Phone (04) 917 7400, Fax (04) 917 7523
Internet www.mfe.govt.nz

Tonkin & Taylor
PO Box 5271, Wellesley Street
Auckland 1036, New Zealand
Phone (09) 355 6000, Fax (09) 307 0265
Internet www.tonkin.co.nz
Email: aamputch@tonkin.co.nz
tkortegast@tonkin.co.nz
ashallard@tonkin.co.nz
auck@tonkin.co.nz

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