This award acknowledges excellence in new or improved clean technologies, lowering resource consumption, or improving environmental sustainability.

Burwood Landfill Gas Scheme
Beca Carter Hollings & Ferner and Christchurch City Council

A typical landfill generates significant quantities of methane, a greenhouse gas that would traditionally be controlled by flaring to the atmosphere.

However in the case of Burwood Landfill, Beca Carter Hollings & Ferner and Christchurch City Council derived a complex scheme to collect the gas, process and compress it, and transport it via a dedicated pipeline to the QEII sports complex where it is burnt in the existing (though modified) boilers to generate electricity and hot water.

The scheme is the first of its type in New Zealand and has significantly reduced carbon emissions, earning over $3 million dollars in Kyoto Protocol carbon credits in its first five years. It has also saved the Christchurch City Council over $1 million in fossil fuel costs. With an expected lifespan of 15–20 years, the scheme is set to become a significant contributor to the local economy.

The judges considered the Burwood Landfill scheme a win-win project. Not only does it achieve a positive environmental outcome by converting a waste product and damaging greenhouse gas into a viable resource, but it does so at a net cost saving to the community, and with an innovative use of technology in the treatment and transportation of the gas. A worthy winner in this category.

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