Lighting fires at landfills
Clause 6 of the regulations specifies:
6 Lighting of fires and burning of waste at landfill
(1) The lighting of fires and the burning of waste at a landfill are prohibited.
(2) Subclause (1) does not apply if–
a. The lighting of a fire is to control gas formed at the landfill; and
b. The landfill complies with the requirements of regulations 25 to 27 .
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).