Project recycles waste wood
Wood saved from landfill made available for residents
People in the small town of O¯ taki are doing their share to help save the planet. Their effort is called Zero Waste Otaki ¯ (ZWO), and Gallagher is proud to be lending a hand.
ZWO started three years ago by members of the O¯ taki and wider community. After seeing all manner of non-perishables tossed in earth’s landfills, they had an idea. What if wood could be diverted away from landfills and put into the hands of locals for domestic use?
It made complete sense. So much sense, Ka¯piti Coast District Council decided to help ZWO by leasing them land. Jane Bell, one of the facilitators spearheading ZWO, recalls the inception of this project.
“We were all just volunteers at ZWO. We had a green idea, lots of community enthusiasm, but very limited resources. When the council gave us land at a peppercorn rate, it all became possible. Ours is a small operation. We open one day a week for one hour, but since 2021, we’ve diverted 18 tonnes of wood from landfill, which is just wonderful.”
The need to quantify
From the moment the council got involved, the earth-friendly operation needed to account for its work. Exactly how much wood was being repurposed? Acquiring these stats would be a challenge, but the way ahead was found during a morning tea put on for ZWO sponsors.
“Over a cuppa, we mentioned the need of finding a way to measure our wood-diverting success. People starting pitching in ideas. Someone suggested weighing the wood that we sold, but what kind of scales would be big enough for that, and could we afford it? That’s when one of our sponsors, Adrian Gregory, had an idea.”
Adrian thought of animal weigh scales. He knew farmers regularly weighed their stock and figured scales that were used for handling a 500kg cow would suit their timberweighing needs. Better than that, he knew a farmer. Max Lutz.
I know a man who knows . . . Gallagher
Max farmed dairy and beef on the banks of the O¯ taki River and was known for his conservation work in the region. When Max learned how Zero Waste O¯ taki was helping the planet, he got on the phone to his friends at Gallagher.
Gallagher had supplied Max with his weigh scale, so he asked if they could help the good people at Zero Waste O¯ taki. Gallagher were delighted to contribute.
Gallagher’s territory manager for Max’s region was Georgia Burgess. Georgia had set up Max’s own weigh scale and was tasked with finding something suitable for weighing the wood.
“After I got a call from Max about the Zero Waste needed, I started calling around the country. Weighing wood didn’t require a bells-and whistles model, so I located a basic scale with a suitable price tag. It was perfect. We got it down to the people at O¯ taki and they’ve been going great guns with it.”
Running the numbers
Even though ZWO opens for just an hour a week, wood is being repurposed at a great rate. Jane marvels at the tonnage.
“Today we had 350kg of waste wood come in, and we sold 750kg from our stocks. The Gallagher scale is so helpful; now we can quantify what we do. In one hour, we kept nearly a tonne of so-called waste from clogging up the earth. I love the numbers.”
Putting good wood to good use
Jane is quick to point out that keeping wood out of landfills is only half the equation. The other half is what locals do with that rescued wood.
“Many people are making planter boxes for growing vegetables. One man I know built a shed. There’s an older gentleman who turns wastewood into bird houses, then sells them in the community.
“It’s such a privilege watching people help the earth while they help themselves. ”
We had a green idea, lots of community enthusiasm, but very limited resources. When the council gave us land at a peppercorn rate, it all became possible. Jane Bell