Kate Valley Landfill is a regional landfill in

Canterbury, New Zealand Canterbury ( mi, Waitaha) is a region of New Zealand, located in the central-eastern South Island. The region covers an area of , making it the largest region in the country by area. It is home to a population of The region in its current f ...

. It is a joint venture partnership between Canterbury territorial authorities and Waste Management New Zealand Limited. Kate Valley Landfill is located within the

Hurunui District Hurunui District is a territorial local government district within the Canterbury Region on the east coast of New Zealand's South Island, north of Christchurch. It stretches from the east coast to the Main Divide. Its land area is . Local gover ...

and is reached by turning off at

Waipara Waipara is a small town in north Canterbury, New Zealand, on the banks of the Waipara River. Its name translates to "Muddy Water", ''wai'' meaning water and ''para'' meaning mud. It is at the junction of state highways 1 and 7, 60 kilometre ...

, where SHs 1 and 7 meet, towards the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

coast. The landfill opened in 2005 and has an expected capacity until circa 2040. The landfill was championed by

Denis O'Rourke Denis John O'Rourke (born 26 July 1946) is a former New Zealand politician. He served fifteen years as a councillor on Christchurch City Council, and served six years as a Member of Parliament representing New Zealand First. Early years Born ...

while he was chairman of the Sustainable Transport and Utilities Committee of

Christchurch City Council The Christchurch City Council is the local government authority for Christchurch in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority elected to represent the people of Christchurch. Since October 2022, the Mayor of Christchurch is Phil Mauger, who ...

, and at the time the project was rather unpopular. The landfill is owned to 50% by five city or district councils (

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

- 38.9%, Hurunui - 1.2%, Waimakariri - 3.9%, Selwyn - 3.0%, and Ashburton - 3.0%), and 50% by Waste Management NZ Limited. The commercial part of the ownership was first held by Australian company Transpacific Industries Group (NZ) Limited. This was sold to Waste Management NZ Limited, which is a subsidiary of

Beijing Capital Group Beijing Capital Group Co., Ltd., also known as BCG or the Capital Group (simplified Chinese: 北京首都创业集团有限公司; pinyin: Běijīng shǒudū chuàngyè jítuán yǒuxiàn gōngsī, abbreviated 北京首创, pinyin Běijīng shǒu ...

, the holding company of a large state-owned enterprise directly under the supervision of the

State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) is a special commission of the People's Republic of China, directly under the State Council. It was founded in 2003 through the consolidation of variou ...

of the Beijing municipality. Kate Valley Landfill opened in 2005 and has an expected capacity until circa 2040. The landfill was championed by

while he was chairman of the Sustainable Transport and Utilities Committee of Christchurch City Council, and at the time the project was rather unpopular. Following the

2011 Christchurch earthquake A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. local time (23:51 UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the entire of the Canterbury region in the South Island, centred south-east ...

, an estimated of

asbestos Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...

-contaminated waste is buried at the landfill per month.

References

{{Reflist Landfills Waste management Hurunui District