Kaikoura Landfill - K1 Introduction

K1.1 Waste management services in Kaikoura District

K1.1.1 Regional overview

The district had a usually resident population of 3621 at the time of the 2006 census. Almost two-thirds of the population (2172) live in the township of Kaikoura, which is the centre of the hospitality industry, with whale watching and adventure tourism playing important roles in attracting visitors.

The sole solid waste disposal facility in the district is the Kaikoura Resource Recovery Centre (RRC), situated in the Kaikoura township. A high proportion of the waste generated in the district is disposed of here. The RRC, which is used by both the public and commercial waste operators, incorporates a landfill and extensive resource recovery facilities.

The RRC is owned by Kaikoura District Council and is operated under contract by Innovative Waste Kaikoura Ltd, which is wholly owned by the council.

K1.1.2 Waste services for the residential sector

A range of refuse disposal services are available to the residents of the Kaikoura District. Unlike most territorial authorities, Kaikoura District Council does not provide a kerbside refuse collection service for residents. This service, using wheelie bins, is provided by a local private waste operator, Kaikoura Bins Ltd.

The council provides a free weekly kerbside recycling collection for residential households, which is carried out under contract by Innovative Waste Kaikoura. The kerbside recycling collection is provided for households in Kaikoura township and along the coast, from Kekerengu in the north to Oaro in the south.

Residents provide their own bags or boxes for kerbside set-out of recyclables. The following materials are accepted by the kerbside collection:

• plastic items with a recycling symbol and number

• glass bottles and jars

• aluminium and steel cans

• cardboard and paper.

Other than the kerbside collection by Kaikoura Bins Ltd, there are no other private waste operators servicing the district. All other residential waste must be transported to the RRC for disposal by the householder.

K1.1.3 Waste services for the commercial sector

The council does not provide a kerbside refuse collection service for the commercial premises in the district; a user-pays recycling service is provided by Innovative Waste Kaikoura. Commercial premises dispose of their waste either by using the kerbside wheelie bin collection service provided by the private waste operator, or by transporting it themselves directly to the RRC.

K1.1.4 Kaikoura Resource Recovery Centre

The Kaikoura RRC is located within Kaikoura township. It is owned by the council and is operated under contract by Innovative Waste Kaikoura. The RRC is open from 8.00 am to 4.30 pm on weekdays, and from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm on weekends.

The RRC is equipped with a weighbridge, which weighs most vehicles using the facility. Before the weighbridge there is a forecourt area where recyclables can be dropped off free of charge in well-labelled bins. In the forecourt area there are separate drop-off points for:

• small batteries of all kinds

• hard plastic recyclable items bearing recycling numbers 1–7

• #1 and #2 plastic bottles

• steel cans

• aluminium cans

• soft plastics, such as plastic bags and film

• newspapers

• cardboard

• magazines

• recyclable paper.

All vehicles entering the station pass over the weighbridge. Traffic movements through the weighbridge are categorised by the operator using codes that identify the customer name, product name and vehicle ID. Very small loads are not weighed, but charged at a flat rate. Vehicles with larger loads are weighed when entering and again when departing and charged by the tonne for disposal. Gate charges at the facility are presented in Table K1.1.

Table K1.1: Kaikoura Resource Recovery Centre disposal charges

Inside the weighbridge there is a second-hand goods shop that accepts and resells goods from the public and items scavenged from the residual waste. A separate steel component shop and shed accepts and refurbishes reusable metal items such as garden tools, whiteware and electrical and electronic goods. There is also a recycling processing shed, in which paper and plastics are sorted and baled.

There is a separate drop-off point for green waste, and a horizontal composting unit is installed for processing the collected material. Untreated lengths of timber are collected in a separate pile and cut up for sale as firewood. An offal pit is provided for the disposal of dead animals and screenings from the wastewater treatment plant. Glass that is collected by the kerbside recycling collection is either crushed or stockpiled on-site. The crushed glass is used for stabilising the landfill.

A hazardous goods shed is provided for the disposal of domestic quantities of hazardous goods. Road sweepings are disposed of as general waste. Residual waste is compacted and baled, and the bales are stacked in the landfill and covered.

K1.2 Data analysis and reporting

Data analysis and reporting are based on the classification and structure of waste flows shown in Figure K1.1. The diagram illustrates the four activity sources that comprise the general waste stream being discharged at the Kaikoura Landfill (ie, construction and demolition, industrial/ commercial/institutional, landscaping and earthworks, and residential). The combination of this general waste stream, the special waste and the private kerbside collections make up the overall waste that is disposed of to landfill.

Figure K1.1: Waste flows at Kaikoura Landfill

 

Read a description of this image

From the data collected directly by the visual survey, it was possible to generate information on:

• the proportion, by number of vehicle loads and by weight, and composition of waste from each activity source

• the proportion, by number of vehicle loads and by weight, and composition of waste being carried by each vehicle type

• the tonnage and composition of the general waste stream entering the facility during the survey period

• the tonnage and composition of the overall waste stream entering the facility during the survey period.

The data analysis process started with obtaining the complete weighbridge records from the facility for the period of the audit. Initially the weighbridge data was used to obtain the net load weights of the vehicles that were surveyed. These were used to calculate the weight of the different materials included in each load. After removal of special waste loads and kerbside collections, this data was amalgamated to provide the composition of the general waste stream disposed of at the facility.

Based on the classifications of waste loads used by the weighbridge, the weighbridge data for the audit period was then analysed to determine the quantities of specific identifiable waste streams, such as kerbside collections and special waste (landfilled glass). Individual vehicles disposing of kerbside collections were identified from the survey results, and the weekly tonnage of these vehicles was calculated from the weighbridge records.

The composition of the overall waste stream was calculated by amalgamating the compositions of the separate component waste streams in proportion to their presence in the overall waste stream.

Statistical analysis was undertaken to determine the margins of error for general waste disposed of at the tipping floor. By contrast, it was not possible to determine confidence intervals for the overall waste stream, because its composition includes assumed compositions for kerbside refuse (Appendix K1).