Robert and Adrienne Scott of Reclaim Timber have a solution to keeping timber out of landfills.
Robert and Adrienne Scott of Reclaim Timber have a solution to keeping timber out of landfills.
Reclaim Timber's trustees Adrienne and Robert Scott say timber does not belong in landfill and want the demolition industry to be regulated to prevent good timber and treated timber being dumped.
The couple, who have been in business for 10 years reclaiming timber destined for the city dump, are makinga submission on the council's waste minimisation bill, which closes March 1.
Native timbers are becoming a timber of the past, but at Reclaim Timber they are very much in the present.
Premium native timbers are in state houses that are under the wrecking ball, and treated timbers from demolition or building sites are also bound for the dump.
"It's a mass onslaught and it's got to stop," the couple say.
He points to the truckloads of 4x2 timber that are being bulldozed into the landfill and Reclaim Timber wants to capture it all.
The couple say from their research and experience, 70 per cent or more of the waste stream is made up of reusable resources.
They say about 20 per cent is timber.
"We call it waste; it's not waste, it's surplus, it can be repurposed and it would be cheaper to keep timber out of the landfill."
The couple talk about the leachate from the dump on which Reclaim Timber sits, which they say is leaking into the Manawatū River.
This is another reason they want treated timber to be kept out of landfill.
"We are living in the extreme waste-stream of history and it's polluting the whenua."
The couple are walking the talk. Their site on Maxwell's Line beside the Manawatū River is testament to the work they do reclaiming timber.
Piles of timber in stacks that have been or are waiting to be denailed, and native timbers that would have been dumped, have been worked on by a team of volunteers.
