Student tells board landfill must go – ‘our school was here first’

Impassioned Dairy Flat residents, including one as young as 10, have made heartfelt pleas to Rodney Local Board to object to Waste Management NZ’s (WM) fast-track application to extend the life and scope of its Redvale Landfill (HM, December 1, 2025).

Addressing board members at their December 5 meeting, Dairy Flat School student Tilly Richardson said no landfill should be so close to a school and it was time for WM to leave.

“My school is 650 metres away from this landfill. This is not okay. I have smelt the landfill a lot at school and at home. I should be able to go to school and enjoy playing and learning and not be impacted by this landfill,” she said.

“There are also 640 trucks a day going past my school daily. They are dirty and smelly. It’s not okay and it’s not fair to the teachers and staff too.

“Our school was here first. Waste Management cannot control the smell. They cannot control the nasty toxins seeping out.”

Tilly added that whenever the school reported odour issues to Auckland Council and Waste Management “they always say nothing was detected”.

“I get into trouble if I lie, but nothing seems to happen to Waste Management when they lie and behave badly,” she said.

“My principal Katie Hills has written a letter to the Ministry of Education expressing concerns for our safety.”

Tilly made her comments while presenting a 724-signature petition to the board. Her concerns were echoed by members of the Redvale Environmental Protection Society and Redvale Community Liaison Committee, who said the whole landfill issue was “massive”, as was the new consent application.

“It’s of huge concern because this is just too big a deal, too complex – the effects are immediate and for 100 years – and fast-track isn’t going to allow us to have a voice, or for the issues to be understood by the local board,” Jennie Hutchinson said.

She said the biggest concern was that WM was saying that the “area of interest” for the expert panel should be confined to within 500 metres of the landfill, when the Auckland Unitary Plan (AUP) recommended a 1km radius.

“The AUP says that landfills ideally have a 1km perimeter within which you don’t have residences or anyone who could be affected, because it’s known it’s difficult to mitigate effects such as odour, noise, dust, etc,” she said.

Hutchinson said there were 1350 people, including the school, businesses and houses, within one kilometre of the landfill that were already highly impacted by the landfill and who needed to have their voices heard over the expansion plans.

“They’re saying you don’t need to talk to these people, just talk to the people within 500 metres,” she said.

Board members had earlier heard from school staff that children regularly had to go indoors during gardening and sports lessons because the smell from the tip was so bad.

In response, WM said independent testing of drinking water, airborne dust and soil at Dairy Flat School and nearby homes has been carried out by accredited laboratories using recognised New Zealand and international standards.

“The results show no evidence of health risks to students, staff or the surrounding community. There is no evidence of the “nasty toxins” suggested. We have completed the testing requested by the school and shared those results transparently. We also have a responsibility to protect our own people. Many of our team members have worked at Redvale since it opened in 1993. We would never operate in a way that puts them, or our neighbours, at risk.”

“Redvale exists to protect Aucklanders and their environment by safely managing the waste the region produces every day. Without engineered facilities like Redvale, communities would face real public health risks from uncontrolled disposal,and waste would need to travel further, increasing emissions and cost.”

Redvale Landfill and Energy Park is not full, the company says, and truck movements remain within existing consented limits of 325 trucks a day, representing about 5 per cent of traffic through Dairy Flat, and they consider odour notifications from residents valid and take them seriously.

“Every complaint is investigated promptly. If, during our assessment, no odour related to the landfill is detected, it means the level is below the recognised threshold of being offensive or objectionable.”

It also rejects claims that engagement has been limited to those living within 500 metres of the site.

“We recognise that the community extends well beyond a line on a map, and we continue to engage with Dairy Flat School, local residents, businesses, mana whenua and anyone who wishes to take part.”