INDEPENDENT NEWS

RCN E-Waste Recycling Plant opening by Amy Adams

Published: Wed 31 Jul 2013 01:35 PM
Press Release – 26 July 2013
RCN E-Waste Recycling Plant opening by Honourable Minister Amy Adams
Joe Capizzi, the Managing Director of RCN E-Waste and a number of his staff were pleased to welcome Minister for the Environment, Amy Adams to officially open RCN’s E-Waste Recycling Plant in Hornby, Christchurch on Friday.
Minister Amy Adams and other invited guests attended the official opening at RCN’s new plant in Buchanans Road, where fittingly, a hazard tape was cut by the Minister to mark the occasion.
Joe Capizzi said ‘Today marks an ongoing commitment that RCN E-Waste as a company and our shareholders have made to the South Island and to Christchurch as a city. This is actually our fifth recycling plant facility that we have occupied in Christchurch in just over two years. Over the years, we have survived a number of shakes, snow damage and have grown out of two sites. In addition to RCN E-Waste’s recycling plants in Auckland and Wellington, Christchurch is strategically important to us and our stakeholders. This is the hub that services the entire South Island, which includes our 14 RCN e-Cycle drop off sites and a large number of retail sites and our corporate customers, who all send us e-waste for recycling. We are here to stay, until this site becomes too small.’
RCN E-Waste started with one employee in Christchurch in June 2011 and has grown the recycling plant team to 13 people. RCN E-Waste will continue to increase the capacity of the plant and employ more staff. Funding from the Ministry for the Environment’s (MfE) Waste Minimisation Fund, through two projects has contributed significantly to investment in infrastructure, equipment and up skilling of the staff. RCN E-Waste in its partnership with the Community Recycling Network of New Zealand (CRN) and their joint e-waste recycling programme RCN e-Cycle, have also been managing the collection and recycling of TV’s from 40 permanent and temporary collection sites as a participant in the MfE’s TV TakeBack Programme. This programme started on the South Island at end March and runs through to 21 August for all South Islanders. It involves a government subsidy down to a cost to consumers of $5 per TV or less, for responsible recycling, if dropped off at one of the participating drop off sites. The Christchurch recycling plant has now received over 25,000 TVs for recycling.
Jon Thornhill, the RCN E-Waste General Manager has been involved with the establishment and growth of the Christchurch plant since its inception. He said ‘It is very rewarding to see what we have achieved over the last two years plus in Christchurch, often in very difficult circumstances. We are very excited by the opportunities we have on the South Island and in Christchurch. We would like to acknowledge a number of our partners, staff and stakeholders who have made this all possible and who continue to support us. These include amongst others, the MfE, RCN E-Waste’s
shareholders, CRN, our RCN e-Cycle drop off sites, Harvey Norman, Noel Leeming, the Christchurch City Council, various South Island Councils and a number of our corporate customers. We look
forward to providing them with professional, environmentally friendly recycling solutions for many years to come.’
To cap off a busy last two years, RCN E-Waste has also just received their ISO 9001 and 14001 accreditation.
ends

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