Residents who live close to the Levin Landfill are battling to have it closed amid concerns about the impact it's having on the environment and the community.
They say the dump, located in sand country six kilometres west of Levin, creates a stench and contaminates waterways by leaking leachate, a
liquid that drains from dumped rubbish.
Christine Moriaty, lives in the small township downstream of the dump at Hokio Beach.
She calls the area Levin's "toilet".
She says the Hokio stream is "absolutely disgusting," that nothing lives in it and it picks up the dump's leachate as it flows towards the beach.
The Neighbourhood Liaison Group, set up by the Environment Court as a landfill watchdog, is driving the campaign to shut it down.
Spokesman Malcolm Hadlum says there's evidence that the landfill's liners will break down in about 50 years and once that happens there's no remedy.
He says the dump gives off a "really nasty odour," and leachate is "oozing" into surrounding waterways.
"This is the legacy that we are going to leave future generations for years to come, it's a really bad situation," Mr Hadlum said.
"For the people who are living there, as far as the odour, it's an absolute horror for them to live right next to the landfill, they get woken up in the middle of the night, their families can't visit them, it's absolutely atrocious they have to put up with this, they've been putting up with [it] for about 15...20 years, if not longer."
Local hapu Ngāti Pareraukawa has always opposed the dump. Their marae is about 500 metres away and right beside Hokio stream.
Spokesman David Moore, who is also a member of the Neighbourhood Liaison Group says the stream used to be "beautiful and clean" and hapu object to the increasing pollution.
"It's just completely culturally offensive to us, to have water contaminated by rubbish, people's waste contaminating the stream."
Horowhenua District Council, which commissioned the dump, wouldn't talk to Local Focus about the concerns, saying it wouldn't be appropriate because of a hearing currently underway.
During those proceedings however, a lawyer for the council has argued the landfill was legally consented.
And he said: "To date, there is no evidence of adverse effects arising from the operation."
