Honda drives greener vision

Honda NZ has been planting trees since 2004. Now it’s funding 15,000 of them for a red zone regeneration project in Kaiapoi, writes

Ihave just planted some trees. It’s a major event for me. I appreciate it may not be for you. Anyway, the planting in question was possible because of some petrol-powered cars.

In some respects this is just another day at the office for Honda New Zealand. You may not know this unless you’re a Honda owner, but the company has been donating trees for every car it sells since 2004, through a project it calls Treefund.

Fifty dollars from every vehicle sold has created a flow of funds worth millions of dollars and 650,000 trees to date.

Or 650,570 if you count the ones just planted at Kaiapoi as part of a Honda-organised community day at the Regeneration Kaiapoi East Area (count me in for seven of those).

Honda doesn’t always go all the way from funding to actually getting the things in the ground, of course. It’s been getting into more planting days over the past two years, but the project is primarily about matching its new-car sales with native trees.

Before 2014 it simply donated Treefund money to local councils, but since then it’s been taking more control of where the green goes and when, in partnership with a company called Trees That Count.

The Kaiapoi regeneration takes things to the next level. It’s the biggest project Treefund has ever undertaken and the most hands-on for the company.

It’s significant enough to have naming rights: it’s officially the Honda Forest.

Kaiapoi, about 20 kilometres north of Christchurch, was hit especially hard by the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes. The 3.2-hectare area now designated as the Regeneration Kaiapoi East Area was formerly home to nearly 700 households. After the earthquakes it became a red zone.

The regeneration is a project of the Waimakariri District Council that will include walkways, a pond and even a BMX track designed by current New Zealand champion and Olympic representative Trent Jones (Trent’s Track is already built and worth a look).

A water sports park has also been mooted.

Honda is funding 15,500 trees, to be planted in stages over the next few years as the council builds up an ecosystem.

The first planting day and official opening was in May this year.

Kevin Dwyer is a landscape architect for Waimakariri District Council and has been involved in the project from the planning stages,

PHOTOS: DAVID LINKLATER/STUFF Waimakariri District Council landscape architect Kevin Dwyer says the Regeneration Kaiapoi East Area, in terms of biodiversity, is ‘‘a significant thing’’.

Right: Planting more than 15,000 native trees gets you naming rights.

Left: Another 560 plants were planted at the Kaiapoi site during the Honda community planting day. Right: The BMX track has been designed by national champion Trent Jones. You can call it Trent’s Track.