By Jamie Morton

Waste Exchange is somewhat of a ``free dating service'' for those with either too much or too little materials - or at least that's how manager Graeme Norton likes to put it.

``Sometimes it's one-night stands and sometimes it's long-term relationships that come from dealing with us,'' says Graeme, on how clients in need of specific items can be connected with those who are about to throw them away.

One such ``long-term relationship'' is the one Waste Exchange shares with Meeanee's Earth Gardens.

``They came to us, and we were able to source them a lot of materials they would have usually had to pay for, such as carpet, netting and plastic,'' Graeme says.

Earth Gardens also used Waste Exchange to hunt down 31 poly refrigeration panels - courtesy of an electrical firm midway through renovations - to use for a large chiller.

Each day, the Havelock North-based Waste Exchange fields calls from all around Hawke's Bay, with the grand aim of lessening the amount of waste dumped at landfills.

The Hawke's Bay branch, funded by Hastings District Council's Wipe Out Waste initiative, also brokers materials between clients in Waikato, Manawatu, Wanganui, Gisborne and the Bay of Plenty.

``It's being going since 1999 and has come along well - we're getting more and more clients all the time.''

The organisation also took out the Cleaner Production category of the recently-held Hawke's Bay Environmental Awards.
Graeme's ultimate ambition is to bring about a ``behaviour change'' when it comes to dumping.

``Really, we're all pretty lazy - it's far too easy to throw stuff out. In Hawke's Bay, the amount of waste we dump at the tip has increased by 50 percent in the last five years - it's that bad.''

Graeme, who is also director of Responsible Resource Recovery Limited which ``umbrellas'' Waste Exchange, is urging people to ``not just order the skip and chuck it out - call us. Remember the old maxim; one person's waste can be another person's treasure''.

People wishing to exchange their waste can phone 0800 NO THROW (0800 668 4769) or visit the website:
www.nothrow.co.nz

Sourced from Hastings Leader, 16 October 2006.

[Index] [Previous] [Next]