New Zealand throws away millions of tonnes of reusable soil every year, but a new report is showing how we could be treating it as a valuable resource, not waste.
A new WasteMINZ report, Reclaiming Our Resources: Optimising Soil Reuse in Infrastructure and Land Development, reveals that millions of tonnes of reusable soil are removed from construction sites every year, representing a missed opportunity to cut costs, reduce emissions, and strengthen infrastructure delivery. The report outlines five priority actions that would help the country shift from treating soil as waste to treating it as a valuable resource.
Soil from construction, developments, and earthworks is often sent to landfill, with more than 20 million tonnes of soil estimated to end up in landfills and cleanfills every year. The cost to dispose of this significant volume of soils equates to billions of dollars every year.
WasteMINZ Optimising Soil Reuse Working Group chair, Rod Lidgard, said the findings highlighted a system where disposal remains the default option, despite the cost and environmental impact.
“We landfill enormous volumes of soil that could be reused on similar sites or processed into new products. This is costing the country financially, but it’s also diminishing a resource vital for primary production, ecosystem health and carbon management,” he says.
“Our current regulatory, technical and operational landscape is complex, and makes it extremely challenging for developers to reuse their soils,” Rod says.
“Essentially, we want to create a system in Aotearoa New Zealand where it is better and smarter to reuse soil than to landfill it.”
With current RMA Reforms underway, the Government has an opportunity to ensure reuse of soils is prioritised through the proposed Planning and Natural Environment bills, Rod says.
The report identifies 27 gaps and opportunities to reduce soil waste and presents five key priority actions to improve how surplus soils are managed. These include better understanding market dynamics, refining regulatory settings, developing national direction for soil reuse, and creating practical guidance for organisations managing land assets.
The findings draw on extensive engagement across the contaminated land, construction, roading, waste and regulatory sectors, reflecting broad agreement on the need to rethink current practices.
“Across all sectors we spoke to, there was a clear consensus: the status quo is not serving industry, the environment, or the long‑term viability of our soil resources,” Rod says.
The Ministry for the Environment provided $150,000 of funding to WasteMINZ to develop this report, the first phase in the development of a nationwide framework for surplus soils.
