Coresteel North Harbour are leading the way in implementing eco-friendly initiatives in their construction business, and with Andrew and Julie Boyd at the helm of their team, they jumped at the chance to design a new waste facility for Northland Waste. North Harbour was commissioned to design and build a brand new transfer station for Northland Waste, otherwise known as a Re:Sort Centre, https://www.northlandwaste.co.nz/ .
These centres provide local communities with a space to drop off general waste, as well as green waste and recycling, and with a number of Re:Sort Centres located around the country, the new facility in Silverdale has been keenly anticipated. Coresteel’s patented Tapered Box Beam portal system was the obvious solution, with the system being manufactured by folding two halves of steel plate and welding them together to form a box. Because the box is tapered in its length, Coresteel only need use the amount of steel required and nothing more, which meant that no steel went to waste during the making of this new recycling centre.
Andrew and Julie believe it is important to sort rubbish at its source, rather than piled together in skips, which reduces on-site construction waste. From cardboard to soft-plastic wrap and dunnage, everything is separated on the spot and carefully recycled.
Once waste is contaminated it becomes impossible to recycle, which is why they establish separate waste collection areas on site.
On-site waste is one of the biggest challenges within the construction industry, and Andrew believes that there is still so much that they, and local businesses, need to do.
“Until dis-incentives are in place to reduce waste, most businesses won’t think outside the skip. It’s frustrating to see an easy answer to landfill reduction yet businesses producing the soft plastic waste mostly look at the financial cost of disposal,” Andrew says.
“It’s cheaper and easier to throw everything together in a skip, but mixing adds another layer of work to enable recycling at the other end so it becomes too hard. The volume going to waste would make your eyes water.”
Strategic planning and ‘thinking outside the box’ might best describe the business ethos of Coresteel North Harbour, and for more information on sheds NZ please go to www.coresteel.co.nz .
