In general the “waste” that can be accepted at BRRP is solid waste arising from the earthquake.

Earthquake Waste definition
The Canterbury Earthquake (Resource Management Act—Burwood Resource Recovery Park) Order 2011, provides the following definition for earthquake waste that can be accepted at BRRP:

Earthquake waste
(a) means—
(i) solid waste resulting from the Canterbury earthquakes, including liquefaction silt; and
(ii) solid waste resulting from any construction work (within the meaning of section 6 of the Construction Contracts Act 2002) undertaken as a result of the Canterbury earthquakes (within the meaning of section 4 of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Act 2011); but
(b) does not include any of the following unless it is not reasonably practicable to separate it from the waste specified in paragraph (a):
(i) general domestic refuse; or
(ii) human waste; or
(iii) building insulation and building materials containing asbestos; or
(iv) hazardous waste; or
(v) waste material from an industrial process or trade process

Prohibited items
To clarify the excluded material as defined by The Canterbury Earthquake (Resource Management Act -Burwood Resource Recovery Park) Order 2011, BRRP will not accept:

  • General domestic refuse (including foodstuffs, garden material and other organics, tyres, etc)
  • Human waste (including sludges and sewerage contaminated material) Bulk Liquids (including sludges with less than 20% solids)
  • Hazardous Waste (including medical, chemical, gas cylinders, batteries, pesticides, and material contaminated by hazardous products)
  • Materials that produce a potential nuisance odour

Hazardous Materials
Hazardous wastes are not accepted at BRRP. For the purposes of waste acceptance, hazardous wastes are defined as those which:

  1. are defined as hazardous under the Hazardous Substances (Minimum Degrees of Hazard) Regulations 2001. These can be read at www.ermanz.govt.nz
  2. are radioactive. Under the regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material 1996, all radioactive materials must be labelled with their weight and their radioactivity measured in becquerels. Any wastes with a radioactivity of more than 100 kilobecquerels/kg and more than a total of 3 kilobecquerels, are not accepted.
  3. when subject to a TCLP test, exceed the limit for acceptability at Kate Valley Landfill.

The NZ Waste List provides a list of different wastes, arranged according to the industry and processes which create the waste. If you have waste which may be hazardous, the first thing to do is determine its classification under the NZ Waste List. If the classification is marked with an asterisk, then you will need to do further testing to confirm if it is acceptable. You can read the NZ Waste List on-line at www.mfe.govt.nz.