Unique, Unusual, or Just Plain Odd?

If you thought that Waste Exchange listed only large scale commercial or business waste or ‘leftovers’ then you would be mistaken. The service offers more than polystyrene offcuts or old cartons (useful as those are!) Some unusual or one-off items often appear, and you might be surprised to see what the service can get rid of, or source, on your behalf.

Recent examples include a large porcelain electricity transformer, almost two metres long. Weighing in at 300 kilograms, it requires a forklift or crane to move it. Although not a commonly used or required item for most people, an enterprising client is going to transform the transformer into a water feature on his new vineyard.

Another odd find was an ultraviolet disinfection unit. Until recently it had been used to treat sewerage wastewater, but was struggling with the volumes and intensity of the material it was required to process. The unit contains a bank of 60 ultraviolet lights, and the ballast and electronics which go along with them. TerraNova and its associated business units are themselves going to utilise this unit in the future development of their Ecopark eco-industrial site in Owaka Rd, Christchurch. It is envisaged that the environmentally focused Ecopark will be self contained, producing its own energy and treating its own waste. The disinfection unit will be ideal for treating wastewater on such a site.

One of the most popular recent listings was photocopiers, offered by a local educational institution. Two organisations were already waitlisted should copiers ever become available, and so they were given first choice of the five. The other three copiers were offered to schools & community groups in Canterbury, West Coast and Marlborough via email distribution lists (most items are accessed this way, and never make it into the web or printed listings). By the end of the day they were all gone; in fact, Waste Exchange received 26 separate enquiries.

The Boys Brigade at Waipara is a regular user of Waste Exchange (they feature in another story in this edition of Recycling Works (‘Piano Exchange is Music to Many Ears’) and some time ago they collected a huge, old, circular display unit. Thanks to a little imagination they are now in the process of converting this into a shelter for children waiting to use the camp’s hydro slide (itself made from 100m of rubber conveyor belt accessed from the Exchange service). While the children wait at the top of the hill for their turn they can easily be sunburnt. The old display stand will be converted to provide a shelter, with the curved plywood shelves becoming ‘S’ shaped feet.