The Monday Column

cones but is no road cone himself. He’s passionate about the business and why not? The numbers are impressive. Between 150,000 and 250,000 road cones are sold into the New Zealand market each year.

Cameron estimates there are over a million road cones out there on our streets at any given time. Each one weighs 5kg and has a 5-year lifespan. That’s a lot of landfill.

Luckily Proline Plastics have a recycling programme. They are the only people who chop up the thick orange witches hats, reconstitute them and get them back out there. A punishingly complex and costly thing to do.

Prime Minister Bill English in his speech to the 2017 National Party Conference proudly announced the Government’s $32 billion infrastructure programme and added the quip: “It’s a good time to have

Plus there is no way those overseas guys are recycling anything.

shares in an orange cone company.”

Actually it’s a tough game Bill. With our high dollar and manufacturing costs it’s a fight. Our homegrown road cone heroes face brutal competition from Indian and Chinese imports.

But Cameron the cone expert suggests “buyer beware”. You don’t know what kind of cone you’re going to get. Many of those imports are not up to it and don’t comply with the NZ Standard.

Plus there is no way those overseas guys are recycling anything. So if you love your country get your road cones from the local boys. As for The Cooz’ dad’s cone cost estimate, he was miles off. We probably only nicked about 300 bucks worth that night.