The Sorting Depot, Commercial Waste Recovery

It will be located on Colson Road in New Plymouth, on the site of the current New Plymouth Transfer Station (the transfer station is moving to a new location). The commercial waste sorting facility will make use of the current roof and sheds, in order to reuse existing construction materials. After construction, it will open in mid-2023.

It’s for waste transporters, skip companies, construction and demolition firms, manufacturers and businesses. Businesses will need an account to access the facility to dispose of waste.

The facility will not be open for public drop-offs. For public drop-offs and home clear-outs, please go next door to The Junction.

Currently, 60%, or about 45,000 tonnes, of the waste we send to the landfill is commercial and industrial waste.

There are currently limited options for the diversion of many commercial and industrial waste materials locally, meaning that disposal to landfill is often the cheapest and most convenient option for businesses. Conversations and surveys with construction companies and other businesses have shown that the time and space to sort materials on their sites are also key barriers to them reducing waste.

Waste collectors have also called for this facility in order to make local collection streams viable, establish local recycling markets and consolidate recyclable materials and landfill waste more cost effectively.

We aim to divert 5,000 tonnes of valuable materials through the facility in its first year, with the goal to grow that increasingly over time as more businesses send their waste to the facility.

The facility will also develop six new jobs and benefit a range of local businesses who support reuse and recycling.

The facility will target usable building materials and fixtures, as well as concrete and rubble, untreated timber, usable lengths of treated timber, and metals, cardboard, recyclable plastic and tyres. Over time, we also plan to develop markets and processing equipment for plasterboard/gib, soft plastics, polystyrene, and other materials.

Acceptance criteria and banned items will be listed here as we get closer to opening the facility in mid-2023.

Yes, if you’re a business and a customer of the commercial waste sorting facility you can bring pre-sorted loads of accepted materials in without them being sorted. We welcome this, and will provide a cheaper price to encourage pre-sorting where it’s possible.

If you have friends or family who are builders, you can encourage them to use the facility for their building skips. Or if you’re carrying out a home build or renovation, ask your builder and waste contractor to take your skips to the facility so they can be sorted for reuse and recycling.

If you work in a business that is having a clear-out, fit-out or building or office renovation done, you can also request that your waste collector drops materials to the commercial waste sorting facility instead of sending them to the landfill. Your business should also pay less for this.

Of the $1.197m construction cost, the Ministry for the Environment is paying $420,550 through a Waste Minimisation Fund grant, with the rest coming from NPDC’s Solid Waste Development Fund. User charges will then make the facility operable.

Please get in touch with us on commercialwaste@npdc.govt.nz.