190 tonnes of recyclable plastics sold in tough market

Wednesday, 27 February 2019

Southland disAbility Enterprises has sold 190 tonnes of stockpiled plastics to overseas buyers and its general manager Hamish McMurdo hopes the sale will help the company win back its region-wide recycling contract.

McMurdo said he had sold the 190 tonnes of stockpiled plastics in the last few months.

China's far-reaching decision to effectively shut out New Zealand's recyclables resulted in the plastics being stockpiled at its Invercargill plant because there was nowhere else to send it.

McMurdo said nothing had changed in relation to China's stance but he had used his contacts in other parts of Asia to sell the product, some of which had been sitting onsite for 18 months.

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'I am pretty chuffed about it.'

He hoped the sale would help Southland disAbility Enterprises win back its contract to recycle Southland's wheelie bin collections.

'It shows we have got a pretty good ability to sell it when no one else can.' 

The buyers had praised the quality of the plastic recyclables which had been hand sorted by staff rather than machine sorted, he said. 

Many councils and recycling operators in New Zealand are struggling to sell their plastics due to the lack of overseas markets.

The sale of the 190 tonnes of plastics comes at a time Southland disAbility Enterprises is in a battle to renew its recycling contract, which expires in June.

Southland's three councils, Invercargill City, Southland District and Gore District,  through their combined body Wastenet, have put the region's recycling contract out to tender instead of renewing the contract with Southland disAbility Enterprises.

The company has put in a tender of its own.

The WasteNet tender process closes on March 14, with a decision on the successful bidder to follow.

The decision not to roll over the contract to Southland disAbilty Enterprises has caused anger in the community, given 90 employees with disabilities at the plant face losing their jobs if the contract is lost. 

Gary Tong, Southland District Mayor and WasteNet spokesman on behalf of the three councils, said it was awesome the 190 tonnes of plastics had been sold but he would not discuss whether it would hold any sway when decisions were made in the tender process.

'I can't comment on the tender process.'

He said he agreed it was hard to sell plastic recyclables and congratulated Southland disAbility Enterpirses for doing so.

Tong has previously said the only option was to go to tender as the three councils were faced with a significant increase in the recycling contract price.

The councils believed the proposed price was too much to accept without going to the market, Tong said.

A not for profit company which is owned by a charitable trust, Southland disAbility Enterprises recorded a $154 profit in 2017 and a $194,272 deficit in 2018.

Southland disAbility Enterprises Limited chairman Stephen O'Connor said in December it was on track to record a surplus in 2019.

McMurdo said Southland disAbility Enterprises still had about 500 tonnes of baleage wrap, which was its own product and not related to Wastenet, stockpiled onsite.

​The company stopped taking any more of the baleage wrap from farmers last winter and the hunt for buyers was continuing.