I.S. Dam Lining experience in large scale landfills enabled the successful completion of New Zealand's largest site at Hampton Downs in North Waikato.
HDPE plastic and GCL (geosynthetic clay) liner were deployed as part of the Stage 3 extension to the Hampton Downs Landfill. The EnviroWaste owned and operated land fill is the largest and most advanced landfill in New Zealand.
Commissioning of the third stage by no means sees the landfill complete, as there are a further four stages planned to cope with the projected population growth of the Auckland, Waikato and Coromandel areas.
The size and scale of this job called on the expertise of the IS Dam Lining team. Operations Manager Andrew Taylor says although this is certainly a large scale for New Zealand, compared with some of the European landfills IS Dam Lining management team have worked on, the Hampton Downs site was manageable.
Andrew has worked deploying HDPE geomembrane for more than 10 years, laying over 3,000,000m2. A fair proportion of this work was on landfill sites throughout Britain and France.
Hampton Downs is located 55 kilometres south of Auckland, the 360 hectares of farmland was chosen after a detailed examination of more than 50 other options in the South Auckland/Waikato region. The geology and natural stability of the site was a key factor in its selection, as the underground conditions make it difficult for any liquids to pass through the ground to contaminate underground water sources.
“The good quality subgrade made the deployment a breeze,” says Andrew. Favourable weather and a skilled team saw this large scale project being completed ahead of schedule.
“We had an awesome team onsite, the digger drivers were totally on to it, which meant we could deploy the GCL and geomembrane in tandem making the job quicker than expected,” Andrew explained.
A comprehensive Landfill Management Plan sets out robust operating and management procedures and all contractors involved are required to comply.
“Safe and sustainable practice is a big part of our business, so we totally understand and are always happy to conform with onsite protocol,” says Andrew.
