The Canterbury Regional Landfill project is a step closer with the Resource Consent hearing starting in Hurunui on 4 November.

Transwaste, the company behind the project and resource consent applications, is a joint venture between the Christchurch City Council, five other Canterbury councils and two national waste companies.

The Canterbury Regional Landfill project came into being because of the urgent need for Canterbury communities to improve the standard of waste disposal in the region. The Resource Management Act, in particular, signalled the end of old-style rubbish tips and dumps.

The proposed Kate Valley site is in coastal hill country about 75km north of Christchurch. The site is within the 2758ha Tiromoana Station, a subsidiary of Canterbury Waste Services (CWS), which is managing the project for Transwaste.

Transwaste proposes to develop a modern municipal solid waste landfill at Kate Valley to serve the region.Transwaste needs land use consents from the Hurunui District Council and land consents and water and discharge permits from Environment Canterbury.

“A comprehensive and rigorous process of community consultation has been carried out over more than two years,” says Gareth James of CWS.

“Transwaste has taken community views into consideration in formulating the final proposal. The proposed landfill has been designed to safely accommodate the maximum conceivable volume of residual waste that Canterbury could produce over 35 years, but with sufficient flexibility to enable early closure in the event of greater waste reduction success than anticipated.”

“A raft of technical evidence will be presented by experts during the hearing that Transwaste is confident will support the resource consent applications.”