Project Reclaim to protect Waitaki coastline

Published on 29 September 2023

Project Reclaim is the Council led efforts to stop three coastal dump sites releasing decades of waste onto the beaches and into the sea.

Two of the sites are located on Beach Road, three kilometres south of Oamaru, where people have been fly-tipping (illegally dumping) for years.

The third is the now closed Hampden landfill that was operated by the council from 1970 to 1996 and is located next to the beach.

Waste Management and Fulton Hogan will carry out the removal of waste, site remediation, and securely storing it at a new location.

There is approximately 30,000 cubic metres of waste – most of it at the Hampden site – which needs to be removed to stop a potential environmental disaster for Waitaki’s coastline.

Fifty years ago, when the Council operated the Hampden landfill, there was not the same awareness of locating sites away from the coasts, the risks of erosion, or the modern methods of containing landfill leachate with lined cells.

Contractors will be constructing a new engineered landfill cell at the Palmerston Landfill site and use it to contain all the remediated waste that will be removed from the three tips. This will capture 100% of the leachate, which will be channeled into a new sewer line and processed, in order to protect the environment.

Project Reclaim is a hugely important piece of environmental work for the people of Waitaki.

More information about Project Reclaim can be found at: Project Reclaim | Waitaki District Council

ENDS