Environmental Innovation Centre

🌟 Start the year with a sustainable mindset! Our latest article in Building Today explores how to reduce plastic waste at every stage of construction, offering practical tips and innovative strategies to minimise environmental impact in 2024. Let’s make this year a step towards smarter, greener construction practices! 🌱🏗️ Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/ghQScxXU #Sustainability #ConstructionWaste #WasteManagement #EnvironmentalInnovationCentre #EIC

🌟 We are excited to share an outstanding contribution from our team! Joanne Low, German Hernandez and Terri-Ann Berry have published an article in Frontiers in Sustainability  titled, "Plastic Waste Characterisation to Maximise Landfill Diversion from a Residential Construction Site in New Zealand". 🏗️♻️   As part of our BRANZ-funded study, we conducted a plastic waste audit at a single construction site—an 8-lot residential new build in New Lynn. The result - 66% of the plastic waste generated was successfully reused or recycled! 🏡♻️   Plastics accounted for just 3.2% of total waste by weight but ranked as the third-most generated waste type by volume, accounting for 13% of all waste. This underscores the need to address this waste stream, which can take up large volumes in landfills.   Thanks to Nigel Benton, the team at Windsor Construction (Caleb Douglas) and Junk Run for all their hard work and collaboration on this project!   🔗 You can read the full article here: 👉 https://lnkd.in/gZ4gmjhq 🌏 We hope this work inspires more people in the construction industry to tackle their plastic waste. While plastic waste solutions are more readily available in Auckland, efforts are expanding to reach other regions across New Zealand. We invite you to read it and share your thoughts!   #EnvironmentalInnovationCentre #EIC #Sustainability #Construction #Innovation #WasteManagement #Recycling #Environment #NewZealand #FrontiersInSustainability

🛠️ Bags and Tools for Managing Construction Waste – Discover Them on WasteHub 🛠️ Managing waste on construction sites can be challenging, but WasteHub is here to make it easier. 🚧♻️ What do we offer? 🛍️ Where to find specialist waste bags: Designed to simplify the sorting and transport of recyclables and waste materials. 🧰 Practical tools: Everything you need to optimise waste management and keep your site tidy and efficient. Why are these tools important? 🔹 Better organisation: Simplifies proper disposal of waste. 🔹 Increased efficiency: Reduces the time and resources needed for waste handling. 🔹 Promotes sustainability: Makes recycling easier and minimises environmental impact. These resources are designed with practicality and sustainability in mind, helping you reduce waste responsibly. 🌍💪 Want to know more? Visit https://lnkd.in/gxSi-f3w and discover how these solutions can make a difference to your project. 🚀 #WasteHub #ConstructionWaste #Sustainability #NZRecycling #EnvironmentalInnovationCentre #EIC

🎥 Learn to Manage Construction Waste with Our Educational Videos on WasteHub 🎥 At WasteHub, we believe education is key to more sustainable construction. That’s why we’ve created a series of educational videos to help you manage construction waste efficiently and responsibly. 🌍🚧 What will you find in these videos? ✅ Practical tips to reduce, reuse, and recycle materials on-site. ✅ Step-by-step guides on how to sort and prepare waste for proper disposal. ✅ Plastic recycling techniques: Learn to identify and recycle different types of plastics. Our videos, produced in collaboration with WasteXpert™ and co-funded by Mitre 10 (New Zealand) Limited, Marley, WM New Zealand and MfE's Plastic Innovation Fund, are designed for simplicity and effectiveness. Whether you're an experienced builder or just starting out, these videos are a valuable resource! Explore the videos and more at WasteHub and join us on the path toward cleaner, more sustainable construction. 🌱💪 https://lnkd.in/gxSi-f3w #WasteHub #ConstructionWaste #Sustainability #NZRecycling #EnvironmentalInnovationCentre #EIC

In the October edition of Building Today, the article "Looking for Easy Wins to Improve Your Sustainability? – Welcome to the WasteHub!" (pages 36-37) shares practical advice on managing construction waste efficiently. It highlights tools like training videos, signage, and a waste map to simplify plastic sorting and recycling. These resources help address construction waste challenges while promoting sustainability in projects. 🌍🏗️♻️ #Sustainability #Construction #EnvironmentalInnovationCentre #EIC https://lnkd.in/gCC955WJ

🎉 Exciting News! We’re thrilled to introduce WasteHub! 🌍 Check it out at www.wastehub.co.nz – your one-stop solution for managing construction waste! 🚧 Discover everything you need, including: ✅Clear signage ✅ Waste bags ✅ How-to videos ✅ Recycler maps ✅ A comprehensive plastic waste catalog ✅ Site gallery and much more! This project is proudly supported by the Plastics Innovation Fund, BRANZ, Marley NZ, and WM New Zealand. Special thanks to WasteXpert™ for producing our informative videos with the support of Mitre 10 (New Zealand) Limited Our mission is to make waste management information accessible and easy to understand—and this is just the beginning! We invite you to explore WasteHub and share your feedback with us. We are starting with plastic waste streams, with plans to keep developing WasteHub to address other construction wastes such as metal and timber. A huge thank you to the Environmental Innovation Centre team and WasteXpert™ for an excellent collaboration that has brought this fantastic resource to life. Together, we’re paving the way for a more sustainable Aotearoa! 🌏💚 #WasteHub #ConstructionWaste #Sustainability #NZRecycling #EnvironmentalInnovationCentre #EIC

Excited to support the Waikato Construction Safety & Wellbeing Forum! Our founders will be among the presenters, sharing insights on sustainability and waste management in construction. Join us on 8th November to hear from industry leaders and explore innovative solutions for a greener future. Register now to secure your spot! 🌍🏗️ #Sustainability #ConstructionNZ #Constuction #NZevents #WasteManagement #EnvironmentalInnovationCentre #EIC

In the September edition of Building Today, our article "Healthy Home Environments: Using Positive Pressure Ventilation Systems" (pages 28-29) explores how PPV systems, which draw filtered air from roof cavities, influence air quality in homes. Concerns about contamination from the roof space have been raised and although it is only early research results (that will require more work for a detailed answer) our research findings challenge the perception that all roof space air will be dirty. Properly built, mould, asbestos and pest free roof spaces appear to be suitable places to source air from. #Sustainability #HealthyHomes #EnvironmentalInnovationCentre #EIC https://lnkd.in/gbbHN_rV 🌬️🏡🔧

In the August edition of Building Today, the article "Identifying and Reducing Operational and Embodied Carbon Emissions" (pages 36-37) offers crucial strategies for lowering carbon emissions in the construction industry. 🌍 It highlights the importance of tackling both operational emissions and embodied emissions through smarter material choices and efficient energy use, aligning with New Zealand’s net-zero carbon goals by 2050. 💡🏗️ #Sustainability #Construction #EnvironmentalInnovationCentre #CarbonReduction #EIC https://lnkd.in/g3S3-fFR

Thanks to Plastics NZ’s ‘CircularConnect’ programme, we got to work with two great teams at Flo & Frankie and Advanced Textiles Association. Some of the composite plastic waste streams from advanced textiles companies are difficult (or even impossible) to recycle - so we provided our client, Duncan's Canvas, with a template to create plastics collection bag for F&F to collect their soft plastics in. At F&F, soft plastics are sorted as they go (thanks to Environmental Innovation Centre workshops and our signage) and then taken to PACT Recycling (using reverse logistics as the F&F van goes past the door once a week anyway). We spoke to Astron to ensure that the new reusable bag comes back to F&F every time. The F&F team are testing the design for us, and we will continue to improve it and determine how many times it can be reused but they are super tough so hopefully for many years. Perhaps a future market for the ATA NZ too ? So reusing waste from textiles to create bags to carry recyclable plastics for another company was a very happy solution! #Sustainability #EnvironmentalInnovationCentre #PlasticRecycling #EIC