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WasteMINZ Awards 2023

Congratulations to our team members who were celebrated at the 2023 WasteMINZ Awards for Excellence.

Each year WasteMINZ awards industry superstars who have been part of an amazing initiative or project over the past 12 months in each sector group. 

Congratulations to our winners. Thank you for working so hard to make our industry safer, more innovative and more sustainable:

Behaviour Change joint winners

Jitesh Singh and the Fleet team for Driver Behaviour Change

"New Zealand roads are an extremely hazardous environment and, with over 900 heavy vehicles on the road undertaking waste collection activities daily, Waste Management recognises we have the ability to impact other road users just as much as other road users have the ability to impact our drivers.

Waste Management has installed the new version of DriveCam (SF64 camera) into every heavy goods vehicle, which has resulted in many positive outcomes, including:

- improved driver behaviour
- supporting drivers when not at fault for accidents
- damage reduction
- capturing other road user’s unsafe behaviour
- assisting driver trainers target their training to areas of risk
- ability to lower insurance premiums due to damage reduction"

 

Commercial Sales Specialist Stephanie Taylor Working with Building and Construction Industry to improve recovery and reduce waste

"Strategic Sales Specialist Stephanie Taylor and the wider Waste Management team have achieved significant behaviour change by working with one of New Zealand’s largest aged care providers, Summerset, on reducing building and construction waste at multiple construction sites around the country.

Due to New Zealand’s fast-growing older population, Summerset is one of the top residential builders in the country.

Led by Stephanie, Waste Management has helped Summerset meet its construction waste avoidance target of 75% for Auckland and 35% for 13 regional sites. Source separation of materials onsite has been key to this success.

A great example of how this is working in practise, was at Summerset’s new Avonhead site in Christchurch, with 85 tonnes of construction waste avoided – achieving 65% of total construction waste avoided instead of the 35% target.

Stephanie and the team have also helped with:

  • Sustainable procurement to reduce waste
  • Use of Waste Management’s GOBuild app, which improves bin deliveries and collections - improving productivity and reducing transport emissions through efficiencies
  • Provided education and training on best practice waste minimisation and recycling
  • Quarterly service reviews
  • Regular site audits and visits
  • A shared monthly results dashboard – keeping everyone on track and engaged."

 

Disposal to Land winner

Mike Beretta, Jim Jefferis, Lawrence James and the Operational and Technical Services mechanical and electrical team for Innovation around the management of leachate

"All landfills are required by consent to manage the collection and destruction of leachate.

An onsite evaporation unit is the most efficient and environmentally sustainable method of treating leachate because it cuts out the transport emissions involved in offsite haulage and also uses landfill gas (LFG) in the evaporation process – which means one landfill waste product (LFG) can treat another (leachate).

Waste Management’s Operational and Technical Services (OATS) mechanical and electrical team have worked incredibly hard to install a new system at Redvale Landfill & Energy Park that leads the way for the management of leachate.

Thanks to this team’s efforts, there is now a new plant to evaporate and treat leachate using hydrogen peroxide to oxidise the sulphide, so it can be discharged as trade waste.

This is execution of a great idea that solves real challenges for the business and helps ensure that Waste Management remains an industry leader.

The new leachate evaporator, the Benevap, uses about 1/3 of the LFG that the old evaporator unit used, meaning that more of the LFG can be sent to generators for renewable energy generation. The new unit was installed and setup by the OATS team and has worked reliably ever since."

 

Health and Safety winner

Jitesh Singh, Guy Smith and the Fleet team for LEV Safety Barrier

"Operating vehicles from the left-hand side is an everyday occurrence at Waste Management. Even with many safety features fitted for left-hand side operations, there was still a risk of drivers exiting the cab while the truck was still moving. When the Fleet Engineer team realised there was no safety barrier that would meet industry standard for New Zealand, they designed their own! The result was an industry leading design which eliminates the risk, is easy to use and makes drivers feel safer."