On behalf of the Trustees, Janine Brinsdon is thrilled to announce the Recovery Trust’s team is expanding. We welcome Ben Fechney to this new role – created to support the Trust’s refrigerant recovery collection network and to drive additional recovery initiatives. This is particularly important given that the Trust’s refrigerant recovery bounty scheme commences 1 October 2022.
“I’m really excited to be joining the Trust for the Destruction of Synthetic Refrigerants (Recovery) from late October as their Collection Services Business Development Manager” says Ben.
"I have spent the majority of my career working for two of New Zealand’s major air conditioning suppliers and managing key account relationships across the residential, commercial and corporate HVAC trades sectors throughout the country.
"I look forward to joining the team, getting around the countryside and raising the awareness of Recovery, building on existing partnerships and creating new ones as the RHVAC industries move towards better and more efficient refrigerant recovery."
Kawerau, 20 March 2026 – A high-tech plasma torch was lit up today as Minister of Conservation, Hon Tama Potaka, officially opened the $10 million National Refrigerant Destruction Facility.
1 January 2026 marks a major step forward for vocational education in New Zealand, with ten regionally governed polytechnics and eight new Industry Skills Boards officially beginning operation, Vocational Education Minister Penny Simmonds says.
