HAMILTON - The Waste Exchange has diverted the equivalent of one million litres of rubbish from landfills in the past year.
The Waste Exchange finds new uses for commercial waste and is funded by Environment Waikato and local councils.
Coordinator Pippa Russell said the amount of waste diverted from landfills in Waste Exchange's first year had exceeded her expectations.
"We have done extremely well considering we are funded for only 10 hours a week."
Waste Exchange has 143 businesses on its register. They use the service to dispose of waste to companies that can reuse it. Some of the products diverted from landfills include plastic, timber, computers, organic waste, tyres and unused chlorine.
Ms Russell said Waste Exchange had a 60 per cent success rate in finding new homes for waste.
She said it did not happen overnight but if more businesses registered with Waste Exchange it would be even more successful.
"It's amazing to think that there is so much waste which is not rubbish that be reused and can save other companies a lot of money."
One of Waste Exchange's clients had 90 drums of honey unfit for human consumption that was picked up by a farmer to feed his cows.
Another client had 30 drums of green vegetable dye to give away, and the company that took it saved about $4000.
At present, Waste Exchange has 600,000 units of compressed sawdust to give away.
Ms Russell said she hoped to create a bigger pool of registered companies when Waste Exchange's website, www.nothrow.co.nz, was launched next month.
The service is available to Waikato and Bay of Plenty businesses and can be accessed by calling 0800 NO THROW, 0800 668 4769.
Waste to give away, from computers to sawdust
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