Unwanted smelter work uniforms to be recycled
About 10,000 items of clothing worn by staff at the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter will soon be replaced, and instead of going to the landfill they will be recycled.
The smelter, which employs about 750 people, is changing its work uniform from camouflage blue to high-visibility orange.
Until now, all its work garments went to landfill when reaching their end of life. But no more.
New Zealand Aluminium Smelters has signed a business deal with Workwear Recycled – a Timaru-based company that works with 15 partners in New Zealand and overseas who recycle as many different materials as possible.
Smelter operations superindendent Joe Wynne said its change to a new orange hi-vis staff uniform meant it had close to 10,000 garments to dispose of.
“So we need to do something different than just putting them into landfill.”
Tiwai’s arrangement with Workwear Recycled was set to continue after its current work uniforms were sent for recycling. The new uniforms would also be sent for recycling instead of landfill when reaching their end of life.
Workwear Recycled managing director Annie Light said the clothes would be recycled into the likes of floor insulation, packaging products and acoustic boards.
Workwear Recycled, whose other large client was Meridian Energy, was also recycling hard hats and safety glasses that were no longer fit for purpose, and was working on a solution for the deconstruction and recycling of steel capped boots.
But clothing was its chief product for recycling, with Light saying it was a big CO2 emitter at landfills. “One kilogram of clothing can emit 3 to 4 kilograms of CO2 emissions at landfill, so [Tiwai] is eliminating that.”
Light said 85% of all garments produced worldwide each year ended up in landfill or were incinerated.
However, she said she was seeing a change where businesses did not want their products, or their logos, in landfills.
Wynne said the smelter recently created a waste minimisation officer role, filled by Amanda Smith, with the aim to minimise what the smelter took to landfill.
“This is one part of that work. It’s a continuing evolution of how do we actually reduce our environmental footprint.”
New Zealand Aluminium Smelters external affairs director Simon King, when asked if the new staff uniforms were a clear signal the Tiwai smelter was remaining open for years to come, said the uniform update was not related to the future operation of the smelter. “It is part of Rio Tinto’s global health and safety approach, which has hi-vis smelter uniforms as standard.”
Discussions with a range of parties, aimed at finalising electricity supply that would see a long term future for the smelter at Tiwai were complex and ongoing, King said.
“We want to secure a commercial outcome that allows the smelter to be sustainable throughout the commodity cycle, drives investment in new renewable generation and plays its part in the broader energy market by providing more flexible demand response when needed.
“We are conscious that our employees, Southland and the energy markets are all looking for certainty, and we are working as quickly as we can and will announce an outcome as soon as we can.”