Fletcher Building is using hard-to-recycle plastics as fuel for its Golden Bay cement factory, in Whangarei.
Operating since 1913 it is the country's only domestic cement manufacturer.
Previously run on coal the company has spent $200 million since the early 2000s to convert to other fuel sources - and is now 60 percent powered through waste streams such as wood and construction. old car tyres, and at one stage expired RAT tests, face masks and PPE following the outbreak of Covid-19.
It aims to increase that proportion to 80 percent with the introduction of hard-to recycle plastics, which Fletcher Building says is a win for the "here and now" problem of such plastics that have no end of life option other than the landfill.
Ben Marsh is general manager of Golden Bay Cement.
Photo: Supplied by Fletcher Building
