Date:  04 June 2026 Source:  Office of the Minister of Conservation and the Minister for the Environment

The $3.32 million remediation project removed about 2500 cubic metres of waste from the sites that had been used as landfills between 1950 and 1980, around 3 km from Aoraki/Mount Cook Village.

The Department of Conservation and the Ministry for the Environment each contributed $1.66 million to the project. During flooding in 2022, waste from one of the landfills spilled into the Hooker River, which flows into Lake Pūkaki.

“These sites had become increasingly vulnerable to erosion and flooding. We’re investing in getting ahead of those risks, and protecting communities and waterways from historic contamination,” Ms Grigg says.

“Funding this work allowed for waste material to be excavated and disposed of safely at a licensed facility.”

“This is an environmentally sensitive catchment and without intervention, waste would continue to erode into the river and impact the park’s water quality, ecosystems and natural values,” Mr Potaka says.

“This work continues DOC’s investment to address increasingly at-risk legacy landfills and other contaminated sites across the country.”

DOC applied to the Ministry for the Environment’s Contaminated Sites and Vulnerable Landfills Fund (CSVLF), with support from Environment Canterbury, in mid-2025.

Work on the landfills got underway in April 2026 and was completed 4 June.