Wairoa leading the way with mortuary waste separation project

Wairoa District Council aims to be the first Council in New Zealand to achieve the separation of mortuary waste at source.

The project is currently under development and expected to be operational before the end of June.

Historically, throughout New Zealand, including Wairoa, mortuary waste generated during embalming processes is discharged into the public wastewater network.

For many years, Council has been working towards a separation process, which included a legislative shift in 2022 listing mortuary waste as a prohibited waste in its bylaw.

Wairoa Mayor Craig Little said the three-stage approach will see mortuary waste captured at source and separated, transported to the cemetery, and discharged to land rather than being mixed with wastewater, treated, and discharged into the river.

“Internationally and nationally, there is a significant shift in mortuary waste disposal practices. Wairoa is pioneering change with our goal to have mortuary waste separated and disposed of through a specialised land-based disposal system.”

Mayor Little said the project has been driven in part by Wairoa’s wastewater disposal consent and from a cultural perspective, with local iwi campaigning that discharging embalmed remains into the water system was culturally unacceptable. “This is a truly collaborative project where the Council has listened to the community and worked with them towards the desired outcome. The project has been undertaken by Council staff and made possible through contracting local people. I extend a big thank you to everyone who has been involved. There is no blueprint for what we are doing; we are the first cab off the rank, so there are a lot of unknowns.”

Mortuary waste can contain embalming fluids, biological materials, medicines, toxins and cleaning solutions used during embalming. Locally, around 200 litres of mortuary waste is generated per week.

The project will see mortuary waste fully contained onsite in a purpose-built tank at Pickering Funeral Services. The tank will be transported to a specific site at the Wairoa Cemetery and discharged safely onto land through an in-ground layered discharge process similar to an underground effluent field. The layered filtration system is designed to remove contaminants through natural soil filtration before final discharge into the surrounding disposal field.

The ambitious project has been funded through the Central Government’s Better Off funding. Community engagement has included a Māori wastewater Working Party with input from local stakeholders, a Body Representing Māori (BRM) and students from Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ngāti Kahungunu o Te Wairoa.

Mayor Little said from an environmental taiao perspective, this change is significant. “Wairoa is leading the way with this transformation, which is the result of a co-lab partnership where we have all worked together to achieve this result. Thank you to everyone who has had input in supporting this change.”

Caption: Work on a new mortuary waste site is underway, with Wairoa aiming to be the first Council in New Zealand to achieve the separation of mortuary waste at source. A blessing was held on site this week.

6 May 2026

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