| Year |
Decision |
Result |
| 2000 |
The re-use of
items that people did not want was found to be useful in
generating income so recycling of used candles, books
into new paper as well as garden briquettes from old
newspapers was started. |
Wool and other oddments were donated
and the culture became one of accepting any donated
items to turn into other products or resell in their
donated form. Where value could be added to the items
this was carried out especially if there was no major
costs involved. |
| Concerned at the
waste from the canteen we set up a worm farm. (This has
now evolved into three worm farms.) |
The worms are
fed on food scraps and old carpet scraps. In return, we
obtain liquid fertilizer, worms for fishing and gardens,
and the worm dirt or casings. |
| 2001 |
A new shed to
shelter from the weather whilst working with the
firewood and kindling was built. A Kindling wood logo
was drawn and plastic bags trialled to find the most
suitable to provide both 10kg and 5kg bags of kindling
wood. |
Firewood was sold by the trailer
load delivered and (if required) was stacked for elderly
clients and the numbers of bags of kindling along with
trailer loads of firewood increased year by year. |
| Regular
customers of firewood and kindling were sought and sales
started. |
A salesman was
employed on a commission basis (for twelve months to
establish markets) and customers ranged throughout
Southland and as far as Dunedin with some 5,000 to 8,000
bags of kindling wood being produced and sold annually.
|
| 2002 |
Fire Bricks and
Garden Bricks continued to be made but we had also now
added shredded documents to our recycling so white
ledger paper was also sought after. |
The bricks were made from shredded
newspaper to which is added wood shavings or sawdust
from our woodwork room. In the case of the garden bricks
we also added some slug repellent and fertilizer. The
bricks are either burnt as fuel or placed around the
garden in strategic places so they can mulch down and
become compost again. This was considered an excellent
method of recycling old newspaper and waste products
from a joinery shop. |
| The Resource
Recovery Centre was generating more than $100,000.00
from donated goods and several staff had moved through
and onto other employment. |
Workers became
skilled in dismantling bikes and re-building these, to a
level that they could be sold and items that could not
be sold were salvaged into recyclable materials wherever
possible. |
| Collection of
used cardboard for resale was started along to accompany
the aluminium cans. |
These two
products were the forerunners of what is now a thriving
recycling business. |
| 2003 |
We
were offered the opportunity to tender for the
establishment and operation of the Invercargill Kerbside
Collection “processing depot.” Our quote was
accepted. |
We terminated our contract at the
Resource Recovery Centre and offered all staff currently
employed there, full time employment at the new
Recycling Centre being established. |
| Once we
established a site, we moved in and started preparing it
for the flow through of the materials that households
would put out for recycling. We raised a bank loan and
purchased the capital equipment necessary to start. |
We
applied and received a Community Employment Grant’s
(CEG’s) scheme of $40,000.00 to assist with the
operational costs along with a Community Organisation
Grant (COGs) of $10,000.00.
|
We delivered
training to all of the staff that had been selected and
put some through formal forklift driver licence courses
as well as comprehensive first aid courses. |
| All personnel
were taken on a study tour of the Alexandra Recycling
Centre, so they could form their own
impressions/opinions on how we would operate and
operating procedures and instructions were written and
taught. |
| Weight lifting
belts were issued to all (after proper fitting sessions)
training given in correct lifting and posture stance on
the sort lines and individual padlocks for machinery
lock down procedures issued. |
| Once the sort
line and bailer were delivered and installed, training
on correct usage was given. |
| 2004 |
We
applied and received a Community Employment Grant’s
(CEG’s) scheme of $30,000, along with a Community
Organisation Grant (COGs) of $4,500 |
What we did not know and had not
planned for, was the amount of product that individuals
had been stockpiling. We started drowning under the
tonnage that arrived in the initial days. |
| We refined our
sorting systems, changed staff to those more suitable
(which involved dismissing two main stream employees and
employing more people with disabilities), and within
three months had the stockpile completely eliminated.
|
