WasteMINZ Conference 2025 - Site Visits

The Kate Valley Landfill and Gareth James Energy Park is an outstanding example of a world-class, modern engineered landfill, designed to the highest international standards and operated to ensure the environmental impacts are managed and mitigated. Gas from the landfill is used to generate electricity, enough to power more than 2,000 homes in 2023, and up to potentially 8,000 households in the future.

Kate Valley is also home to Tiromoana Bush, Canterbury’s free to access 407-hectare regenerating lowland native forest.

EcoShop & Ecosort - part of EcoCentral, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Christchurch City Holdings Limited, a Council Controlled Tanding Organisation owned by Christchurch City Council.

EcoCentral is a reuse, refuse and recycling contractor who provide services to a number of councils and large customers, including Christchurch City Council.

EcoShop 

The EcoShop on Blenheim Road is where unwanted goods are given a second life. The shop receives reusable, re-purposable and recyclable product from our Resource Recovery Centres, Commercial and other sources. After checking and testing, the team offer these goods up for a new home at  EcoShop. The EcoShop team is immensely proud of the diversion and reuse activity that our EcoShop and RRC enable.

EcoSort

This Material Recovery Facility (MRF) processes kerbside recycling from Christchurch City Council, a number of other Councils in the area as well a commercial material. The semi-automated plant was upgraded in 2022 as part of the Covid Relief Recovery Fund and sorts all commodities to a minimum quality standard of 99.5% purity. The sorted commodities are sold on the open market for preprocessing and overall support of circularity. They delighted to own and operate this highly capable and productive facility.

University of Canterbury libraries makerspace

Te Rua makerspace promotes repair, re-use and upcycling.

The makerspace team collaborates with groups and support student clubs to host events that use waste streams.

They host regular repair cafés, as well as many workshops training university students on how to use machines and equipment to undertake repair, reuse and upcycling.