Dunedin Waste Futures receives 2026 RMLA Project Award
Dunedin Waste Futures has received the 2026 RMLA Project Award, recognising an outstanding example of integrated environmental planning and implementation with the potential to influence waste management planning across Aotearoa New Zealand.
The award was presented to Dunedin City Council and Boffa Miskell, working with GHD, Anderson Lloyd, Aukaha Mana Taiao, Te Rūnanga o Ōtākou, Pattle Delamore Partners and Avisure.
The RMLA Project Award recognises projects that make a significant contribution to the development of best practice in resource management or the implementation of resource management legislation.
A whole-of-system approach
Dunedin Waste Futures brings together a group of interrelated initiatives designed to move Ōtepoti Dunedin's waste management towards a more sustainable, circular model.
In selecting Dunedin Waste Futures for the 2026 award, RMLA's assessors considered it an outstanding example of integrated environmental planning and implementation.
Rather than approaching municipal waste management through a traditional landfill-based model, the programme takes a whole-of-system approach, bringing together landfill closure, resource recovery, recycling, ecological restoration, hazardous waste management and community outcomes into one coordinated programme.
Assessors also recognised the strength of the technical work spanning planning, ecology, landscape, engineering, cultural and social disciplines. Importantly, the approach was considered highly transferable, with potential to influence waste management planning nationally as local authorities face increasing pressure to reduce waste, improve resource recovery and transition towards more sustainable waste systems.
Collaboration at the centre
The programme has involved sustained collaboration across a multidisciplinary team.
Boffa Miskell and GHD have worked within the Dunedin City Council Waste Futures team since 2018, alongside Aukaha on behalf of Te Rūnanga o Ōtākou. Boffa Miskell describes a strategic, engagement-led approach as central to the work, including collaboration with Council and the local community on a long-term vision for the site following landfill closure that incorporates cultural narratives and values alongside opportunities for recreational, environmental, cultural and community use.
Reflecting on the award, Boffa Miskell project lead Rachael Eaton said:
“It recognises the shared care, expertise and long-term thinking that have shaped Dunedin Waste Futures, and the strength of bringing technical, cultural and community perspectives together around a common goal.”
For Rachael, the programme is about more than the immediate infrastructure challenge:
“This programme has always been about more than closing a landfill.”
She describes the wider ambition as creating a more resilient waste system and an enduring environmental, cultural and community legacy for Ōtepoti.
RMLA congratulates Dunedin City Council, Boffa Miskell and the wider Dunedin Waste Futures team on receiving the 2026 Project Award.
Read Boffa Miskell’s reflections on the Award and Dunedin Waste Futures.
