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A $12.5 million investment into B&C plastic recycling

 

Waste Management is excited to announce a significant investment into plastic recycling solutions for the building and construction industry.

 

Over the next five years, Waste Management, Aliaxis NZ (owners of the Marley brand) and the Ministry for the Environment through the Plastics Innovation Fund, will together invest $12.5 million into new plastic 2 & 3 (HDPE and PVC) recycling facilities and collection services across New Zealand. Waste Management will operate collections and the plastics recycling plants, with Aliaxis to take all recycled materials for remanufacture into piping systems. A circular solution in action.

 

To ensure the success of the project, we will be forming a joint venture business with Aliaxis. The first part of the multi-staged initiative will be a new $7.5m plastic recycling plant at our existing Building & Construction Resource Recovery Centre at Southdown Lane in Auckland. This will be jointly funded by Aliaxis ($2.5m), Waste Management ($2.5m) and the Plastics Innovation Fund ($2.5m). The Southdown Lane facility will be operational by 2023, providing a solution for end-of-life uPVC and PE piping systems as well as any other suitable PVC or HDPE products discarded by the building and construction industry.

Regional Manager Aleks Ravnikar and Upper North Island General Manager Mike Mcsaveney with an example of the piping that will be able to be recycled as part of the initiative.

Upper North Island General Manager Mike McSaveney says it’s a great opportunity to provide more circular solutions for waste that would otherwise be thrown away. The building and construction industry currently contribute around 40% of all the waste that is sent to landfill in New Zealand.

 

The overall project includes:

  • New plastic recycling facilities which will sort, wash and shred PVC and HDPE plastic. After the Auckland facility is built, there are plans for the South Island
  • A network of metropolitan and regional PVC and HDPE collection services
  • Research with Unitec and the Building Research Association of NZ into practical solutions to minimise plastic construction waste and help to raise awareness of plastic recycling.

 

This is a hugely exciting initiative and is very much aligned to our company purpose: Power the circular economy for future generations of Aotearoa New Zealand.

 

About the Plastics Innovation Fund

 

The purpose of Te Tahua Pūtea mō te Kirihou Auaha –The Plastics Innovation Fund supports projects that will minimise plastic waste and its harm on the environment. The aim is to invest in projects that find ways to use less plastic and make what is used reusable or recyclable. More information about the fund can be found on the Ministry for the Environment website.

 

The Plastics Innovation Fund will contribute $4.46m to the initiative (35.66% of the overall project investment).