The commissioning of the new Canterbury regional landfill at Kate Valley in June 2005 was the culmination of more than five years of investigation, planning, design, and construction effort.
The project is a cooperative venture between five territorial authorities, including Christchurch City Council (population 800,000) and Canterbury Waste Services Ltd – a wholly owned Waste Management NZ Ltd subsidiary.
The project provides a residual waste disposal solution integrating extensive regional recycling and resource recovery initiatives. The physical isolation of the site offers a low-impact disposal solution, enhanced by an advanced liner system comprising clay and multi-layer GCL/geomembrane and a full range of environmental control systems.
The landfill has a footprint of 38.5 ha and contains 11 million m3 of waste. Tonkin + Taylor has been involved with the project since its inception – assisting with site selection, obtaining resource consents, completing whole-of-life planning and detailed design of all cell development and infrastructure on site.
