Farmer makes positive environmental impact
Hands-on farmer Greg Coppell recycles broken, chemically treated grape posts into fence posts, saving them from going to landfill. Greg and his family farm a sheep and beef unit near St Arnaud. His requirement for economical fencing materials led him to set up Repost, a company that repurposes broken grape posts for fencing in the agricultural industry. Beginning in 2021, he estimates the company has intercepted over half a million posts which would otherwise have gone to landfill.
The company recently won the Wine Industry Award at the Cawthron Marlborough Environment Awards. Stockpiles of CCA treated, broken posts are a problem for the wine industry since they cannot be disposed of through burning. Greg estimates the recycled posts will be good for a minimum of 25 years, particularly since no part of them has been in the ground whilst in use in the vineyard. Eighty percent of the landfill costs to the vineyard owner is saved and the posts are resold at a third of the cost of a brandnew fence post. Educating the consumer to utilise a second-hand product that is as good as new is an ongoing mission. Repost can deliver nationwide and claim to still remain competitively priced. Developing the process has not been without its challenges, obtaining labour being one of the most difficult. Joining the RSE scheme has been a saving grace.
The inconsistent methods used by vineyards to support the trellis systems has also been a challenge since all the nails or plastic clips must be removed from the posts. The company is now on its sixth generation of clip removal machines but believe they now have an effective solution. The machine is built on a car trailer for ease of transportation around the district.
Marcus Pickens from Wine Marlborough praised Repost for their efforts to help the environment by minimising waste and helping the wine industry to promote resilience with their goal of zero waste by 2050.