Joint Regional Landfill Committee
Agenda | Rārangi take
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Date: |
24 February 2026 |
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Time: |
9:30 AM |
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Location: |
Council Chamber, Floor 2A, Civic House, 110 Trafalgar Street, Nelson |
Chairperson Nelson City Councillor Mel Courtney
Members Nelson City Council:
Cr James Hodgson
His Worship the Mayor Hon Dr Nick Smith (Ex Officio)
Iwi Representative:
Vacant
Tasman District Council:
Cr Dean McNamara
His Worship the Mayor Tim King (Ex Officio)
Quorum 2 Nigel Philpott
Chief Executive
governance.advisers@ncc.govt.nz
Nelson City Council Disclaimer
Please note that the contents of these Council and Committee agendas have yet to be considered by Council and staff recommendations may be altered or changed by the Council in the process of making the formal Council decision. For enquiries call (03) 5460436.
Matters relating to the operation and use of the York Valley and Eves Valley landfills as regional landfill facilities, and the timing of their use.
Decisions to accept (or not accept) waste that is generated outside the Nelson-Tasman region.
Comply with the Procurement Policy of the Administering Council;
Enter into all contracts necessary for the operation and management of the JRLC in accordance with the approved budgets and intent of the Business Plan and the 'Procurement guidance for public entities' as produced by the Office of the Auditor General.
Any other matters under the area of responsibility of the Committee
All recommendations to Council will be subject to adoption of an equivalent resolution by the other Council, unless it is a matter specific to one Council only.
The Memorandum of Understanding governing the JRLC allows for either four or five members to be appointed. The quorum at a meeting is either two (if four members are appointed), or three (if five members are appointed), including at least one from each local authority.
The Standing Orders of the Council providing administration to the committee shall be applied at each meeting.
The Chairperson will not have a casting vote
Copies of minutes of meetings of the Joint Regional Landfill Committee will be retained by each Council for record keeping purposes
24 February 2026
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Page No
Order of Business
Karakia and Mihi Timatanga
6.1 R26-26 Nelson Tasman Regional Landfill Business Unit General Manager Update Report February 2026........................................................................................................................... 7
Karakia Whakamutanga
Procedural Items
No apologies have been received at this time.
Members are reminded of their obligation to declare any conflicts of interest they might have in respect to the items on this agenda.
4.1 Fulton Hogan - Reece Moon - Consideration of Landfill Gas supply opportunity to FH for reduced carbon asphalt
5.1 16 December 2025 - Minutes
1. Confirms the minutes of the meeting of the Joint Regional Landfill Committee, held on 16 December 2025 as a true and correct record.
Minutes of a meeting of the Joint Regional Landfill Committee held in the Council Chamber, Floor 2A, Civic House, 110 Trafalgar Street, Nelson on 16 December 2025, commencing at 10:00am.
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Present: Councillor M Courtney (Chairperson), Nelson City Mayor Hon Dr N Smith and Councillor J Hodgson, Tasman District Councillors D McNamara and T Walker
In Attendance: Deputy Chief Executive/Executive Director Delivery (A Louverdis), TDC Group Manager Community Infrastructure (R Kirby) General Manager Regional Services (N Clarke), Senior Governance Adviser (A Andrews) and Assistant Governance Adviser (E Bradley-Parrish)
Apologies: Nil
1 Apologies
No apologies have been received at this time.
2 Confirmation Of Order Of Business
3 Interests
Members are reminded of their obligation to declare any conflicts of interest they might have in respect to the items on this agenda.
4 Public Forum
No requests for public forum have been received.
5 Reports
5.1 Appointment of Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson
Resolved JRLC/2025/19
That the Joint Regional Landfill Committee
1. Elects Councillor Mel Courtney as Chairperson and Councillor Trindi Walker as Deputy Chairperson for the current triennium, in accordance with the Terms of Reference adopted by Nelson City Council and Tasman District Council.
His Worship the Mayor Hon Dr Smith/Cr Hodgson Carried
6 Exclusion Of The Public
Resolved JRLC/2025/20
That the Joint Regional Landfill Committee
1. Confirms, in accordance with sections 48(5) and 48(6) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987, that Roger Sutton from DETA consulting remain after the public has been excluded, for Item 1.1 of the Confidential agenda (NTRLBU Gas Boiler Sale and Energy Supply Contract Report), as he has knowledge relating to the item that will assist the meeting.
That the Joint Regional Landfill Committee
1. Excludes the public from the following parts of the proceedings of this meeting.
2. The general subject of each matter to be considered while the public is excluded, the reason for passing this resolution in relation to each matter and the specific grounds under section 48(1) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 for the passing of this resolution are as follows:
TDC Cr Walker/Cr Hodgson Carried
The meeting went into confidential session at 10.03am and resumed in public session at 11:49am.
5.1 R25-550 NTRLBU Gas Boiler Sale and Energy Supply Contract Report
Section 7(2)(i) To enable the local authority to carry on, without prejudice or disadvantage, negotiations (including commercial and industrial negotiations)
7 Restatements
1.1 NTRLBU Gas Boiler Sale and Energy Supply Contract Report
5. Agrees that the report (R25-550) and decision be made publicly available following signing of any agreement.
There being no further business the meeting ended at 11:49 am.
Confirmed as a correct record of proceedings by resolution on (confirmation date). Insert Resolution here (remove bold please):
Joint Regional Landfill Committee - 16 December 2025 2 of 2
24 February 2026
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Report Title: R26-26 Nelson Tasman Regional Landfill Business Unit General Manager Update Report February 2026
Report Author: Nathan Clarke (General Manager Regional
Services)
Report Authoriser: Alec Louverdis (Deputy Chief Executive -
Executive Director Delivery)
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1.1 To update the Committee on activities undertaken to 31 December 2025 by the Nelson Tasman Regional Landfill Business Unit (NTRLBU).
2 Recommendation
That the Joint Regional Landfill Committee
1. Receives the Nelson Tasman Regional Landfill Business Unit General Manager Update report February 2026.
3 Background
3.1 The operations and maintenance contractor has been performing well regarding health and safety and environmental performance.
3.2 Landfill operations have been running smoothly apart from one litter event. This event is discussed in a later section of this report.
3.3 Landfill compaction results at York Valley Landfill (YVL) are still good with the results from the compactor GPS system showing monthly densities as high as one tonne per m3, this density is above the contracted density requirement of 0.85 tonnes per m3.
3.4 NTRLBU finances are in good shape at present due to the receipt of revenue from the class 3 waste at Eves Valley, and an increase in the Class 1 waste being received at the YVL.
3.5 The budget for the 2025/26 financial year assumes a Class 1 waste disposal of 73,478 tonnes, and at present we are slightly above budget for waste mass.
3.6 The Eves Valley Landfill has accepted 18,260 tonnes of class 3 waste for disposal for the financial year to the end of December 2025 compared to a budget of 2,000 tonnes for the year.
4.1 There were no notable health and safety incidents during the period.
4.2 There were three ignition events recorded in the waste between July 2025 and 31 December 2025. All the events were handled well by the operation contractor.
4.3 One additional landfill ignition event expanded into a significant fire during January 2026. The contractor controlled the fire using the NTRLBU fire truck, and excavators to dig out the combusting material. This situation demonstrated the effectiveness of the response capabilities NTRLBU has in place. One improvement that was noted in an event debrief was that staff should have more time operating the fire appliance and the fire cannon, as staff commented that it was difficult to aim the cannon quickly and accurately, not having used it very much previously.
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Photo of the fire at YVL in early January 2026
4.4 Due to the size of the fire and the volume of waste involved in the fire, it was not possible to determine the cause of the ignition.
4.5 Table 1 below outlines the ignition events and activities that occurred during the period from July 2025 to 31 December 2025
Table 1: Fire incident records for the period to 31 December 2025
4.6 The list of Health and Safety incidents and observations to the end of December 2025 is shown in table 2 below.
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Table 2: Health and Safety for the period to 31 December 2025
4.7 Table 3 below outlines the environmental incidents for the period to end of December 2025
Table 3: Environmental and Odour incidents for the period to 31 December 2025
4.8 A significant wind event at the end of 2025 with wind gusts reaching 143 kilometers per hour (data from YVL site wind meter) caused litter to be picked up from site and some was blown onto neighbouring properties. The wind caused whirlwinds within the landfill which carried litter past the YVL litter fences which have been working well. The operator contacted the NTRLBU operations manager and the YVL operations were stopped, however this was not fast enough to prevent all litter from leaving the site.
4.9 The contractor communicated with the neighbours and indicated that they would send staff around to see them as soon as staff were available to collect the litter, but that available staff were focused on fixing broken fences and clearing trees from fence lines to prevent stock escaping and were unable to undertake litter collection immediately.
4.10 On 30 December the NTRLBU GM visited the YVL and discussed the litter collection response with the landfill operations contractor. It was agreed that as there was no additional human health, environmental damage, or additional property damage that would occur if the cleanup was not undertaken immediately that it was no appropriate to try to get emergency staff to the landfill on 1 or 2 Jan, and that a thorough clean up on the 5 Jan when staff were available would be appropriate.
4.11 Unfortunately, the affected neighbour was not satisfied by the response NTRLBU and its contractor implemented, and a formal complaint has been received regarding litter.
4.12 The NTRLBU contractor has responded to the litter event and has been to neighbouring sites on five separate occasions and has spent more than 90 man-hours searching for litter on the neighbouring sites.
4.13 The Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that the contractor follows is by setting up a grid search of the land with staff traversing the land separated by approximately two metres. Staff mark maps where litter is found and check off areas that have been searched once completed.
4.14 An issue with the SOP is that some of the land is very steep and overgrown, and in some areas dangerously steep. The landfill contractors’ staff have difficulty walking safely across the land ,which makes a grid search very difficult.
4.15 NTRLBU has commenced an investigation to establish the cause of the events, the actions taken (or not taken), the specific issues being complained about, and will assess whether changes to systems, procedures, and litter management processes are required.
4.16 The NTRLBU has met with the NCC compliance officer and discussed the issue and will provide the investigation report to the NCC compliance team once the NTRLBU review has been completed.
4.17 This litter issue is one that has not occurred in the first 18 months of the current operations contract period and occurred during an extreme weather event. NTRLBU has already commenced the construction of a transfer facility (including a transfer building) that will allow the landfill operator to hold waste in the transfer building during extreme wind events.
4.18 The transfer facility should reduce the need to shut the landfill under similar circumstances in future and will reduce the likelihood of litter being carried from the site by the wind when it is discharged from the trucks at the landfill.
4.19 An independent landfill management and operational performance consultant visited the landfill in late January 2026 and feedback from the consultant was that the YVL was excellent and was “textbook” in the way the activities were undertaken. This feedback was good to hear, particularly when the NTRLBU staff were grappling with an issue related to litter escaping during the extreme wind event.
5.1 Operations have run well over the period despite one litter event occurring.
5.2 Landfill Class 3 waste mass received at Eves Valley Landfill during the period was 18,260 tonnes, which was 16,260 tonnes higher than the forecast waste mass in the 2025/26 budget.
5.3 Landfill Class 1 waste mass received during the period is 38,675 tonnes for the year to 31 December. This is approximately 2000 tonnes higher than the budgeted mass for the period ending 31 December 2025
6.1 NTRLBU received three notifications related to odour during the period. Two notifications occurred on cool misty mornings with no or very slight breeze, and one in the early evening.
6.2 When NTRLBU staff investigated each notification, no odour was able to be detected on any of the occasions, which suggests that any odour issues were of short duration.
6.3 Based on the low frequency (three in the six-month period), and the short duration of the odours it is considered that the YVL does not create any more than minor adverse effects from its operations.
6.4 During the period, the independent odour assessor engaged by NTRLBU has undertaken fortnightly odour assessments and has not identified odours outside the landfill basin.
7.1 The gas utilisation project has been progressing slower than desired, due to time taken to resolve concerns regarding an easement required by Network Tasman.
7.2 This easement has been finalised and is awaiting registration with LINZ.
7.3 Once the easement has been lodged then Network Tasman, they will install the transformer fuses which will allow the system to be commissioned.
7.4 The issues with the easement were unexpected, as the power transmission lines were existing lines that had been in use since the 1980s.
8.1 NTRLBU have now completed the remediation of two slips on the rear of the landfill site.
9.1 The NTRLBU gas management system at YVL continues to operate effectively.
9.2 Gas capture and destruction is still at high levels, and balance gas levels are similar to previous years suggesting that capping integrity is good.
9.3 The 2025 annual UEF has been verified and submitted on time. The UEF for the 2025 year has continued to achieve the maximum 90% reduction possible under the ETS regulations.
9.4 The new Default Emission Factor will be raised from 0.91 to 1.023 which will increase the number of ETS credits NTRLBU needs to remit annually.
9.5 Following the Joint Committee meeting in December 2025, work is ongoing on developing the reuse options for the remainder of the gas not sold to the Nelson Hospital at the York Valley Landfill.
10.1 The ETS unit price is currently around $33.50 per unit.
10.2 Following remission of the 2024 ETS liability our current holding of 133,772 units has an average cost of $47.80 per unit.
10.3 Our current New Zealand Unit (NZU) holding and movements.
10.4 Units on Hand 31 January 2026 133,772
10.5 Treasury policy limit, assuming a Unique Emission Factor of 0.21 and budgeted waste volumes is 46,655 units.
10.6 Current holding is 87,117 units more than policy due to the reduction in the UEF achieved in 2023 and in 2024.
10.7 The NTRLBU and the Councils have approved the sale of 50,000 NZUs and delegated the timing of the sale to the General Manager of NTRLBU.
10.8 At present it is proposed that NTRLBU do not sell until there is more understanding of the NZ Governments position on climate change actions, and how this might affect future ETS prices, the Default Emission Factor, and the future NTRLBU ETS liability.
11.1 NTRLBU is currently constructing the new transfer station at YVL. This will allow NTRLBU to consider and test additional waste sorting and diversion activities. The contract completion date for the transfer facility is end of June 2026.
12.1 NTRLBU considers its risks on an ongoing basis, as risks on the site frequently change because of additional information or changes to operations.
12.2 This section is not intended to be comprehensive or to outline all risks and will focus on different risks in each quarterly report or risks that NTRLBU is managing at that time.
12.3 Affordability. Landfill fees have increased significantly over the last few years and further increases in gate fees has the potential for some to seek other options for disposal.
12.4 Landfill Buffer Zones.
12.4.1 The Grampians reserve and NCC forestry provide good buffer land to the east of the YVL. There is limited buffer to the west which increases chances of complaints.
12.4.2 NTRLBU has attempted to purchase additional land to the western ridgeline, but negotiations have been unsuccessful to date.
12.5 Regional Landfill Consenting
12.5.1 NTRLBU has commenced the process of developing its consent application for the future landfill.
12.5.2 A range of options have been considered at a conceptual level and a decision has been made to apply for a 35-year extension for the YVL landfill which will include outlining the closure of the landfill during this time.
12.5.3 NTRLBU will request 35 years for the consent so that the operational life can account for the lower waste generation sought by the Nelson Tasman Joint Waste Minimisation and Management Plan (JWMMP)
12.5.4 Technical experts have been engaged to prepare technical assessments for all the significant investigation, and it is anticipated that the consent application for extending YVL will be submitted in the first quarter of 2027.
12.5.5 It is both critical and important that this consenting work continues in a timely fashion as the time required to consent a new landfill can be significant.
13.1 Income Account for the period to 31 December 2025
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13.2 The budget year to date shows NTRLBU is ahead of budget by $2,711,000 this income is principally generated from the higher than budgeted Class 3 waste mass received at Eves Valley landfill.
13.3 Excluding the Eves Valley Class 3 Wastes, the YVL revenue is tracking ahead of budget with revenue $593,000 above budget for the Year to 31 December 2025.
13.4 Operational costs are above budget, with increased costs associated with a range of different activities, including higher waste mass being received, the completion of the slip repairs commenced during 2024/25, costs for gas sales contract and gas planning, and additional front face construction costs.
13.5 Additional operational costs will continue to be incurred over the next few months.
13.6 Operational costs will include costs for advisors on the gas contracts and support with the Asset Management data transition from Infor to AWM.
13.7 Additional costs are also expected for vegetation management and trade waste costs that have increased compared to budget.
13.8 During preparation of the Activity Management Plan (AMP) a review of the post closure costs, and the aftercare maintenance provisions have been undertaken. These are still in draft form, but they have identified that extending the life of the YVL will have a consequential aftercare provision adjustment in the order of $1.8 Million.
14.1 Overall, the NTRLBU is in a good position from both a quality and a financial perspective.
14.2 There has been one environmental event that has led to a neighbour being adversely affected by litter. The event occurred due an extreme weather event and the YVL stopped accepting waste, however the time taken to escalate the issue to NTRLBU who instructed the contractor to shut was slower than desired.
14.3 Apart from this one event the landfill is operating very well with safety management, environmental management, and customer experience all being undertaken to a high standard.
Nil
Recommendation
That the Joint Regional Landfill Committee
1. Excludes the public from the following parts of the proceedings of this meeting.
2. The general subject of each matter to be considered while the public is excluded, the reason for passing this resolution in relation to each matter and the specific grounds under section 48(1) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 for the passing of this resolution are as follows:
7.1 16 December 2025 - Minutes Confidential
Section 7(2)(i) To enable the local authority to carry on, without prejudice or disadvantage, negotiations (including commercial and industrial negotiations)
7.2 R26-30 Joint Regional Landfill Committee Iwi Representative Appointment
Section 7(2)(a) To protect the privacy of natural persons, including that of a deceased person