This page outlines different types of landfills and requirements.

Landfills are facilities for the final controlled disposal of waste in or onto land.

Under the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA), landfills must have consent conditions which are appropriate to the material they accept.

Types of landfill

Municipal solid waste landfills Landfills that accept household waste as well as other wastes.
Managed landfills Landfills composed mainly of cleanfill, but also construction and demolition waste with light contaminants.
Construction and demolition landfills Landfills where contruction and demolition materials such as wood products, asphalt, plasterboard, insulation and others are disposed to land.
Cleanfills

Landfills where cleanfill material is disposed to land.

 

Cleanfill material is material that when buried will have no adverse effect on people or the environment.

 

It includes virgin natural materials such as clay, soil and rock, and other inert materials such as concrete or brick that are free of:

  • combustible, putrescible, degradable or leachable components
  • hazardous substances
  • products or materials derived from hazardous waste treatment, hazardous waste stabilisation or hazardous waste disposal practices
  • materials that may present a risk to human or animal health such as medical and veterinary waste, asbestos or radioactive substances
  • liquid waste.
Industrial landfills Landfills that accepts specified industrial wastes. In most cases industrial waste landfills are monofills associated with a specific industry or facility.

The level of environmental protection depends on the type of waste accepted at the facility.

Requirement to register as a disposal facility

Under the Waste minimisation Act 2008, landfills that accept household waste (which is not entirely from construction, renovation, or demolition of a house) must register as a disposal facility.

Disposal facilities are subject to the waste disposal levy of $10 per tonne of waste disposed of at the facility.

For more about the levy see About the waste disposal levy.

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