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Wednesday, January 19th, 2011 by Admin
 Plasback Scheme Mgr Chris Hartshorne & Agpac GM Chris Dawson Earlier in the week Plasback’s Chris Hartshorne (of the Agpac/Plasback project that SIFT funded – more here and here for the blog post on the TV3 story) announced that they have exported 30 tonnes of plastic resin to Australia and Korea. This plastic resin is made up of the on-farm waste plastics that they have collected, such as used baleage wrap.
Chris Hartshorne stated:
“Our on-farm collection service and the tonnage of waste plastic we collected grew considerably last year and we expect that trend to continue in 2011. More farmers and contractors have joined Plasback, and those who use the recycling scheme are learning how to maximise the efficiency of the collection service and minimise their costs. Plasback is a user pays scheme. There are no expensive levies placed on manufacturers or importers as we place greater emphasis on adding value to the waste stream as this in turn supports the collections from farms”.
“The government of NZ emphasises that product stewardship is the way of the future. The means manufacturers and consumers take responsibility for the full life of the products they use. The Plasback scheme plays an important role in helping the rural sector look after the environment that they and we all depend upon.”
Congratulations to Chris and the Plasback team – this is a great win for the environment and great leap forward for Product Stewardship in New Zealand.
14012011 Agpac Media Release Plasback resin sale
Tags: agpac, farm, funding, Plasback, plastic, Product Stewardship Schemes, projects, SIFT
Posted in Business & Sustainability, SIFT Projects | No Comments »
Friday, January 7th, 2011 by Admin
Yesterday TV3 interviewed me for a story on the Agpac Plasback Product Stewardship Scheme. Unfortunately, my bit and a mention of SIFT was not used in the story. But, it is still a good story from Jessica Rowe and great promotion for the Plasback Product Stewardship Scheme.
Story text.
Video.
Tags: agpac, farm plastics, Plasback, recycling, rural, SIFT, TV3
Posted in Business & Sustainability, SIFT Projects, Waste Management | No Comments »
Monday, July 19th, 2010 by Admin
 Martha Stewart Living Test Kitchen Waste Station While catching up on some blog reading over the weekend I spied the above inspiring yet simple waste station in the test kitchen of Martha Stewart Living Omnidmedia in New York via Martha Stewart’s blog. You can just see that there are more bins on the other side as well. I love the Landfill sign “This is quit-zies no take backs” and that they have a bin for the chickens!
What is great about this waste station is that it works within the function of that particular work space – the test kitchen; it includes a bin for organic waste (for the chickens) as well as the other types of waste recycling or recovery. Not only does the signage fit with the MSL brand but it is also super simple and easy to see what goes where.
When it comes to reducing the amount of waste that goes to landfill from businesses and organisations it is interesting to note two things: 1) Anecdotal research* suggests that household waste accounts for about 3.8% of all waste to landfill (the rest is commercial and industrial and construction and demolition) and 2) for some reason those who recycle at home may not necessarily recycle at work. This shows that our next step to reduce waste to landfill needs to come in the commercial and industrial and construction and demolition areas. And the first easy step is to set up easy and efficient waste management in your own business. For some this might mean they have access to council provided bins or bags for others this will mean hiring bins from independent waste management businesses. Know the types of waste you produce and what the best way is to 1) reduce it and 2) to recycle it.
Promote the benefits to reducing waste and installing an efficient waste management system to ensure buy in from all levels of the oraganisation. There will be benefits to the bottom line with cost savings for procurement (buying less paper) and waste managment (reducing to a smaller bin). Make it relevant to your staff, easy to use and understand and possibly a little fun with some good signage. Lots of internal communications on the hows and whys is important.
It is also good to consider all types of workers in your business and organisation and how they produce waste. If you have people that spend most of their time on the road install a couple of small bags in their vehicles to take the rubbish. Office bound workers can walk a short distance to a centralised waste station on each floor or house the waste station in the cafeteria or work kitchen. It is also important that those who empty the waste bins understand the importance of ensuring the right waste goes into the right bin that is collected by your council – don’t forget to talk to the cleaners too. You could even promote this to your customers, suppliers and visitors. Work with suppliers to reduce packaging, work with customers to move to less packaging for your own product or service and promote the waste management system to visitors so they know what to do with the waste they might bring with them (like lunch packaging!).
Recognition and awareness of the waste your business or organisation produces, reducing that waste and then moving to a long term efficient waste system will have benefits for the environment, for the bottom line and for your brand value.
Here are some other waste station ideas:
 MSL recycling centre  Recycling Frame from Matteria Shop via BLtd  Re-Nest Recycling Station  Recycle Bins from Lowes  The SIFT Office Waste System - Organics, Landfill, Recycling I have noticed that a lot of the links I have included are American based. There are some great New Zealand companies around that provide different bins for different uses for waste management and even just suping up some old cardboard boxes will do the trick. For Cantabrians try Agpac who stock Urba bins. You can get an organics bin like the one in the SIFT photo as well as great stackable bins for all your different waste streams.
We would love to see any creative or just plain practical office or business recycling. Send us your photos and we will post them here on the SIFT blog.
Images: MSL Recycling Centre, Matteria Shop Frame, Re-Nest Recycling Station, Lowes.
*From Richard Lloyd at Becon
Tags: agpac, commercial, construction, demolition, industrial, landfill, Martha Stewart Living, office, Re-nest, recycling, waste station
Posted in Pratical Action, Sustainability in Action, Waste Management | 1 Comment »
Monday, May 24th, 2010 by Admin
 Plasback Product Stewardship Scheme - Photo copyright Agpac Congratulations to the team at Plasback for achieving government accreditation of their Voluntary Product Stewardship scheme. They received their accreditation for on farm collecton and then recycling of agricultural plastics along with the Glass Packaging Forum who are focussed on reducing glass that goes to landfill. Plasback Product Stewardship Scheme is the first for the agricultural sector. SIFT granted Agpac (who administer the scheme) funds for a Canterbury focussed education campaign for farmers on the collection scheme. Along with the development of an easy to understand brochure for farmers there was also radio, tv and press advertising. Through the Plasback scheme Agpac are looking to collect 200 tonnes of agricultural plastics by the end of this winter from Canterbury farms.
When the plastics have been collected they are sent to Mastagard for recycling and then reused as recycled plastic feedstock for new products.
The Hon. Dr. Nick Smith, Minister for the Environment said in the press release ” I would encourage other industries to recognise the economic and environmental benefits of product stewardship and get accredited” – we agree.
Tags: agpac, agriculture, farm, landfill, Mastagard, mfe, Minister for the Environment, Nick Smith, Plasback, plastics, product stewardship
Posted in News on Sustainability, SIFT Projects, Waste Management | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010 by Admin
 Baled Plastic Milk Bottles Waiting for processing at Mastagard This week’s Green Collar Job Q&A is with Angus Winstone, Sales Manager for Mastagard here in Christchurch. Mastagard are one of the key industry players here in Canterbury for waste collection and recycling. They collect from around Canterbury, Christchurch and the West Coast and have a focus on recycling as much as possible. They work with SIFT fund recipient Agpac recycling the baleage wrap and other agricultural plastics that Agpac collects from around Canterbury farms. SIFT recently visited Mastagard to check out what they do and we will be posting about that soon. In the meantime here are Angus’s answers:
1. What do you do to live more sustainably (with a low impact) in your life?
Thats a hard one, sustainable living ….. I do the normal recycling, but I have the added advantage of being able to bring things to work to be recycled.
2. How do you live more sustainably at work?
As a recycling company it easy to recycle, slightly cheating! We recycle just about everything in the office. We always turn off our computers at night. I think when you work in an industry that is driven by recycling you don’t really think about it, as we are all trying to come up with ideas to do things more sustainably for our clients, so its just a fundamental part of our business!
3. What do you think is the biggest environmental issue we need to deal with in Christchurch/New Zealand?
The government needs to regulate or legislate the export of recyclables. As a privately funded recycling company we are competing to purchase product from buyers from overseas that are totally unregulated! If recyclables were supplied to the New Zealand recycling processors we would be able to expand and recycle new recoverables!
4. What makes you smile?
My kids playing.
5. What is your biggest pet peeve?
I don’t really have a pet peeve ….. but if I had to identify something that got me upset it would have to be the misunderstandings about plastic recycling. Plastic is a great product, it can be 100% recycled. What is not OK is the low recovery rate!
6. What is your favourite colour and why?
It should be green but I do like blue.
7. Do you have a favourite place in the world? Describe why?
Yes, Lake Tarawera in the North Island. It is a lake that I have been going to my whole life, it’s is the most unspoilt and natural place I have ever seen!
8. What’s your connection to SIFT?
We are working with SIFT on the ‘Plasback’ scheme [*with Agpac] to promote and collect all rural plastics, also they are help us get our message out to the wider market place.
9. Do you remember your favourite teacher and why they were your favourite?
My favourite teacher was probably my Physics teacher, Mr Jefferies. He used to let me electrocute myself, blow myself up …. good times!
10. What do you want to leave behind?
Good worm fodder …… no really, I want to see a recycling industry in New Zealand that works, it would be great to leave behind a robust recycling industry in New Zealand!
11. What do you think the future will bring?
Well I don’t think the hover craft cars are on the immediate future, but maybe we will all be driving hybrid cars instead.
12. Who is someone you really admire and why?
It’s so hard to answer a question like this without offending someone … so im going to say ‘My Dad’ sorry Gandhi.
13. What is happening outside your window right now?
I am eyeing up a timber yard with a whole lot of plastic that should be recycled, why?
14. What is your favourite breakfast?
Weetbix with peaches! Sorry you can’t beat it.
15. What is the best piece of advice you can give us?
I think that the New Zealand recycling industry has been confused with the New Zealand ‘Bale and Ship to China’ industry …. We need to help recyclers prosper, not help the companies that are helping the Chinese recycling industry prosper (and it is). My personal opinions may seem rather strong, but when the Mastagard plastic company is purchasing plastic from off shore and importing it to New Zealand because it is unable to source plastic locally, then something is very wrong. New Zealand is teaming with unregulated commodities brokers and greedy councils stripping the best plastics away from local New Zealand recyclers. If we want the New Zealand recycling industry to blossom, we need to make it an attractive industry to invest in.
Tags: agpac, China, Green Collar Jobs, Mastagard, plastic, recycling, waste
Posted in Green Collar Jobs Q&A | No Comments »
Monday, November 23rd, 2009 by Admin
Crop packaging manufacturer Agpac is leading the way on a product stewardship scheme that recycles the very crop packaging they manufacturer. You can read more about them here on an old blog post. Baleage wrap is used to wrap bales of hay and other grasses and instead of farmers burning or burying the plastic or leaving it to blow around the farm they can now put it in a handy Agpac collection bin (which also decreases the risk of contamination) and it is then recycled.
Agpac recently opened a new baler with the help of Minister for the Environment Hon. Dr. Nick Smith who is quoted as saying “These initiatives are part of the future for New Zealand’s most important industry. Companies are expected to take responsibility for the full life of their products not just manufacture and sales. This includes removing waste at the end of the product’s life-cycle. Agpac is taking a lead in developing this broader view.”
He also went on to say “New Zealand’s agriculture exports are coming under increasing scrutiny regarding their sustainabiltiy and environmental impact. Currently 10 to 20 percent of agriculture plastics are being recycled and we need to increase this to 100%”.
This new baler has the ability to be transported across the South Island where it can bale up used plastic baleage wrap and sileage pit covers at the farm making it easier for farmers to be apart of the scheme. Agpac’s Chris Hartshorne states that “Product Stewardship is a partnership that includes us as the distributor, our customers, the recycling industry and the reprocessors who create new products from the recycled materials.” This is exactly where all businesses and industries need to be moving to in order to create a sustainable future for New Zealand and its products.
And as Mastagard’s Sebastian Stapleton said in the press release for the new baler farmers need to start looking at where their old products are being sent to for recycling – “There is significant risk that waste plastic shipped to Asia will be processed in environmentally reckless and inhumane conditions”.
As well as a new baler Agpac have recently entered into a new agreement with plastics recycler Mastagard who will recycled the used baleage wrap here in Christchurch. Mastagard recently opened a $5 million wash and plastics recycling plant in Sockburn, which you can read about here. They will also be able to take the agrichemicals plastic containers.
All Agpac and Mastergard need now is for more farmers to be apart of the scheme.
 The Hon. Dr. Nick Smith with new Agpac baler
Tags: agpac, agrichemicals, baleage wrap, diverting waste from landfill, Mastagard, plastic, plastic wrap, producer responsibility, product stewardship, recycle, recycling, recycling projects, SIFT, sileage, waste
Posted in Events, SIFT Projects, Waste Management | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 by Admin
Christchurch is definitely becoming the hub of recycling for New Zealand especially for Plastics. Last month, the new $5 million Mastagard plant opened which will enable Canterbury to recycle more types of plastics and yesterday there were two new plant openings. The Agpac plant opened a new baler which will help to increase the amount of baleage plastic they can recycle and then an hour later Comspec in Hornby opened a new plastic milk bottle recycling plant.
The Comspec plant is a state-of-the-art plastic milk bottle wash and recycling facility. They are able to process 100,000 plastic milk bottles per day. Comspec is another SIFT funded project as well – we gave an initial grant to assess the feasibility and commercial viability of the plant and then some more $ in the form of a loan to buy the plant needed.
There are three key positive aspects to the Comspec plant:
1. It means that the South Island’s plastic milk bottles will no longer be shipped offshore. They would normally go to Asia to be recycled but Comspec can now do it.
2. The process is also chemical free and the water used for washing is recycled in a closed loop system.
3. Turning the old plastic milk bottles into recycled plastic resin provides a ready feed stock of plastic resin for manufacturing within New Zealand. This means decreasing our dependancy on buying in plastic resin from overseas. This is a valuable resource.
It is estimated that they will process 2.5 million plastic milk bottles a year. They will be shredded, washed, granulated, rinsed and dried to make recycled plastic resin that can be turned into other plastic items such as drainage pipes, plastic sheeting, wheelie bins and industrial packaging.
Comspec have stated that this project will save an average of 1 tonne of CO2 for every tonne of plastic that is recycled. That’s great.
Even Fonterra is supportive of the new plant. Their Eco-Efficiency Manager, Spring Humphreys, was quoted in the press release as saying “This wash plant is an excellent example of innovation in New Zealand’s plastics recycling industry which ticks all of the boxes for improving environment, social and economic performance.”
At SIFT we are really pleased to be apart of such positive impactful projects and can’t wait to see more of them come on line. This is a successful SIF T project that diverts our waste from going to landfill and from going off shore for someone else to deal with.
 Old plastic milk bottles on the move  More old milk bottles on the move  The Comspec Plant  Another part of the Comspec plant  Chipped old plastic milk bottles  From milk to consume, to empty milk bottles, to recycled plastic resin granules to new plastic piping.
Tags: agpac, baleage, bottles, CO2, Comspec, consumption, funding, grant, loan, Mastagard, milk bottles, plastics, recycling, SIFT, waste
Posted in Events, SIFT Projects, Waste Management | 1 Comment »
Monday, November 9th, 2009 by Admin
SIFT is able to help a variety of projects get started through a number of different types of funding. Agpac is great example of SIFT helping out with a grant. Agpac needed some funding to develop a wash plant with an aim to recycle baleage wrap from farms.
 Farm feed wrapped in Baleage While supplying baleage wrap (and other polythene products) to the rural sector Agpac wanted to find a way to reuse, recycle or dispose of baleage wrap and plastic silage pit covers sustainably. As producers of the packaging they felt it was their responsibility to ensure that it was disposed of appropriately with minimal harm to the environment. Currently, the wrap is either burnt (polluting the atmosphere), buried or left to blow around the rural property, causing environmental damage. The difficulty in recycling it, however, is its high contamination with manure, water, mud and damage.
 Used baleage wrap container (made from recycled baleage wrap) Agpac developed an easy-to-use bin for farmers to put their old and used baleage wrap into, decreasing the chance of contamination (and then increasing the amount of baleage wrap that can be recycled). This is then collected, shredded, washed then recycled. The old baleage wrap is then turned into the baleage wrap collection bins (as in the photo above). Agpac’s goal is to have every farmer in NZ with a baleage wrap collection bin.
The grant from SIFT was to help with research and development and the trialing of the recycling process. They are now in their fourth year and take around 280 tonnes of plastic wrap from farms. This is a great example of product stewardship in action – Agpac supply crop packaging products and then take back and recycle used packaging for responsible reuse – thus diverting more waste from landfill. We need more of this across all industries.
Agpac also bring in recycled bins from Italy (made from recycled Polypropylene and Polyethylene) to help make recycling and waste sorting easy. Called Urba there are 7L kitchen caddies, 40L stackable towers, breathable compost bins with bio bags and a range of other bins to make recycling (and diverting waste from landfill) easier. SIFT has one of the compost bins in our office and it doesn’t even smell.
Agpac also make Tuffboard recycled plastic sheeting and compost bins made from recycled HDPE plastic.
This morning Chris Hartshorne, Recycling Manager from Agpac joined SIFT CEO Linda Norris on PlainsFM’s GreenBiz segment to talk about the history of the idea to recycle the baleage wrap, how the initiative affects the supply chain for retailers and brand owners, the bins, farms, how the waste is collected, producer responsibility and product stewardship (whether it should be mandatory or voluntary). Here is the podcast.
 Agpac's Chris Hartshorne with their Urba recycling bins at PlainsFM Agpac will also be opening a new compressor tomorrow – another step in making their producer responsibility/product stewardship recycling scheme more streamlined and efficient.
Tags: agpac, baleage wrap, community, diverting waste from landfill, environmental sustainability, Green Collar Jobs, plastics, producer responsibility, product stewardship, recycling, recycling bins, reuse, SIFT, urba
Posted in SIFT Projects | No Comments »
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