Mitre 10 Mega Te Awamutu health and safety manager Rochelle Andrew (right) and Waipā District Council circular economy intern Charlotte McQuade-Wright at the collection point for clean plaster buckets. Photo / Dean Taylor
Mitre 10 Mega Te Awamutu health and safety manager Rochelle Andrew (right) and Waipā District Council circular economy intern Charlotte McQuade-Wright at the collection point for clean plaster buckets. Photo / Dean Taylor
Tradies and DIY enthusiasts are being encouraged to give their used plaster buckets a second chance beyond the landfill in a new Waipā initiative launched in time for Recycling Week.
Waipā District Council has partnered with Waipā's Mitre 10 Mega stores in Te Awamutu and Cambridge to set up collection points at each store where the community can drop off used plaster buckets.
Charlotte McQuade-Wright, council’s circular economy intern, is currently in her fourth year at Waikato University studying environmental planning and came up with the project as part of her internship.
“The initiative is based on the circular economy principle of reuse,” she said.
“It aims to reduce the number of buckets going to landfills and giving back to the community.
“Plaster buckets are not recyclable so reusing them is the best way to keep them from going to landfill.”
Over 700,000 plaster buckets were distributed in New Zealand last year. Construction is a massive part of the Waipā economy and the wastage of buckets is likely to be significant.
Buckets collected will be transformed into portable fruit and vege gardens and donated back to the community.
McQuade-Wright saw first-hand how many plaster buckets were used in the construction industry as her father was a plasterer and she saw him constantly bringing home plaster buckets.
“There were only so many we could reuse, so I was inspired to test the idea with him,” she said.
Mitre 10 Mega Te Awamutu health and safety manager Rochelle Andrew (right) and Waipā District Council circular economy intern Charlotte McQuade-Wright at the collection point for clean plaster buckets. Photo / Dean Taylor
The project was initially run by product producers who distribute their products in the buckets, but they weren’t keen to jump on board.
McQuade-Wright, along with Waipā District Council’s waste minimisation adviser Shelley Wilson, decided to take the lead on the project and run it themselves.
Mitre 10 Mega Te Awamutu and Cambridge were happy to jump on board to provide the drop-off points.
The project also fits into the council’s waste minimisation management plan (WMMP) to look for diversion options for construction and demolition waste.
Mitre 10 Mega Te Awamutu health and safety manager Rochelle Andrew said Mitre 10 was contacted by Charlotte from the council with the concept to reduce waste going to landfill, in particular, plaster plastic buckets.
“I spoke with the managing directors and they thought this was a great idea to get behind,” said Andrew.
“I met with Charlotte and Shelley from council and caught up on what their idea was.
“Hearing the story from Charlotte about her childhood, of a father who was a plasterer and their conversation about being able to reuse these was great.
“We sell a lot of this type of product at Mitre 10, and if we can do our part to support our trade clients and customers with an easy and sustainable way to reduce construction waste and also be a part of a solution to reduce waste for the environment by turning these into mini gardens to offer back to the community, this sounds like a positive move for everyone.
“I look forward to seeing this concept take off and thank Charlotte for considering Mitre 10 Te Awamutu as a partner in this project,” she said.
Early next year there will be a community day with Te Awamutu Scout Group volunteers to plant the buckets and have the portable gardens available to collect.
Stickers to remind traders and DIYers to recycle.
Stickers have been attached to some products to remind users the buckets can be returned, however, any clean plaster and joint compound buckets, in 3.3L, 4L, 10L and 15L sizes can be dropped to Te Awamutu and Cambridge Mitre 10 Megas rather than thrown into the bin.
Other sizes and paint buckets, tins or cans, pool chemical containers and oil or deck stain buckets or tins can’t be accepted.
