Rick Li

The appellant appealed a new condition imposed by the Director of the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks on an amended Environmental Compliance Approval for a landfill site.

The condition required the appellant to keep leachate levels within each landfill cell at less than 0.5 metres over the landfill base clay surface.

The appellant argued that the site-specific design, based on a hydraulic trap system, supported a leachate level of 1.5 metres, and that the 0.5-metre limit was scientifically unjustified and would cause severe operational disruptions.

The Tribunal found that while a limit was necessary to prevent obstruction of the leachate collection system, the site-specific modelling supported a higher level.

The Tribunal allowed the appeal in part, altering the condition to require leachate levels to be kept at less than 1.5 metres over the landfill base clay surface.