New Zealand Government

Department of Landscape and Plant Science
UNITEC, Institute of Technology, Carrington Road, Auckland, 3.00pm, Friday 27 August 1999

Hon Marie Hasler, Associate Minister for the Environment, will official launch the first Vertical Composting Unit in New Zealand, at UNITEC, Institute of Technology, Auckland, this afternoon.

Affectionately know as VERA the compost unit will work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, turning all UNITEC's organic waste into compost mulch for use on the campus grounds.

VERA will also provide UNITEC staff and postgraduate students with research opportunities. The days of noxious weeds, such as gorse, ginger and kikuyu, could well be over if trials show they can be turned into useable compost mulch, and in as fast a time as 14 days.

The Vertical Composting Unit is part of UNITEC's focus on environmentally sustainable systems.

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