A New Zealand-first in climate change action

A new waste management facility with the power to destroy climate change causing gases is set to be built in Aotearoa New Zealand for the first time.

The Trust for the Destruction of Synthetic Refrigerants Chief Executive Janine Brinsdon says the facility, to be built in Kawerau in the Bay of Plenty, will mean the synthetic refrigerant gases it collects can be dealt with onshore. The facility is expected to be operational by 2024, with construction set to begin in the coming months, she says.

Refrigerant gases are one of the leading contributors to climate change worldwide as they are thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. In the past, the Trust has had to export the gases they collect to Australia for specialist destruction.

“We are very keen to employ the operators and engineers needed to run the facility from the Kawerau community.”

Kawerau Enterprise Agency General Manager Kevin Power says they welcome the project. “The Agency is delighted to be involved in this ground-breaking green development. We are excited to be developing our industrial land in a way that is beneficial to the environment and brings new cutting-edge industry to Kawerau.”

Janine says the Trust is in the process of finalising a contract for plasma arc waste destruction machinery. The state-of-the-art technology breaks the gases down on a molecular level and any toxins are then neutralised, resulting in a by-product which can be safely disposed of in landfill, she says.

“The technology far exceeds international environmental standards,” Janine says.

The Trust’s Chair Richard Lauder says the new facility is a “significant investment in world-leading technology”. “It will enable us to deal with our own environmental issues in our own country and avoid the risk that comes with shipping these gases offshore for destruction,” he says.

Trust Trustee Clifton Madgwick agrees, saying it’s great to finally be making some tangible traction with the project via a lease for the site and soon, an agreement in place for the machinery. “This is an exciting project for the industry and New Zealand as we work towards a lower carbon environment and being accountable for our own resource management from cradle to grave here in New Zealand, rather than shifting our waste offshore.”

The Kawerau facility will be more affordable and considerably reduce transport emissions, Janine says. It will have the capacity to deal with all the refrigerant gases collected by the Trust and can be scaled as the volume grows.