Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage today announced a Waste Minimisation Fund (WMF) grant of $3.1 million to enable Auckland recycling firm Green Gorilla to divert the waste and allow materials to be reused.

“Useful materials are ending up in landfill instead of being reused. Green Gorilla’s project gives businesses an alternative to simply dumping these materials,” Eugenie Sage said.

“In Auckland, construction and industrial waste makes up about 85 per cent of what is sent to landfill every year which is a significant loss of resources.

“This innovative project will reduce waste across the region and provide opportunities for new businesses that utilise the recovered materials. That in turn will create new jobs.”

The company will construct a large scale commercial and industrial waste sorting facility at its Onehunga site which will allow it to recover, reuse or recycle commercial and industrial materials alongside its existing construction and demolition sorting facility.

The highly mechanised plant will double the overall capacity of the site and allow the company to offer additional cost effective landfill diversion services to its Auckland customers.

“This facility will deliver a fundamental change in the way Auckland’s commercial and industrial waste is managed.

“It’s all part of our broader plan to be smarter on waste. We need to find new ways to get value out of resources rather than just dump them. Designing waste out of the system is fundamental to building a more sustainable economy,” said Eugenie Sage.

The WMF provides financial support to projects that reduce environmental harm and provide social, economic and cultural benefits. It is funded from a levy charged on waste disposed of at landfills to discourage waste and to support waste minimisation initiatives. More than $92 million has been awarded to more than 150 projects to date.

Details about the fund are here.