Lighting fires at landfills

Clause 6 (see link below) of the regulations specifies:

6 Lighting of fires and burning of waste at landfill

Note

Regulations 25 to 27 address the control of greenhouse gas emissions at landfills.

Implementation

The standard means that the burning of any refuse at a landfill is banned. If a fire is discovered immediate steps must be undertaken to extinguish the fire. Note that the ban does not apply to the flaring of landfill gas.

Accidental fires around landfills can be reduced through improved landfill management. Accidental fires have been caused by sparks from the exhaust systems of site plant or vehicles, smoking on the landfill by staff or users, and uncontrolled dumping of waste materials such as ashes or hazardous substances that can ignite when mixed. Good management procedures are specified in resource consent conditions, and further guidance is available in the Guide to Landfill Consent Conditions (Ministry for the Environment, 2001b).