22 September 2000

Shoppersheds to Supershed

Public sales of recovered materials from recycling centres at three Christchurch City Council refuse stations will end on Sunday 24 September.

This will mark the end of an era as the retail outlets – recently renamed ShopperSheds – have been in operation since the opening of each of the Refuse Stations.

The oldest is Parkhouse Road Refuse Station that opened in July 1981.

At that stage, Christchurch was a leader in waste management with the setting up of refuse transfer stations that enabled a cleaner and more efficient system for waste disposal. It also meant better management and monitoring of the waste stream.

Before that trips were made to a dump.

The focus for refuse stations has changed again to a system where materials are recovered from the waste stream instead of ending up in the landfill. Recycling centres will be expanded to cope with more materials being recovered.

In addition, a retail outlet that will be established at a central warehouse next to the Council’s waste-water treatment works off Pages Road.

"Retailing recovered materials is a less important function for the refuse station recycling centres, given that it is not as location dependent as diverting materials from the waste stream.

The Recovered Materials Foundation Business Development Manager, Joan McSweeney, says that the changes will mean that there will be more space for people to drop-off recyclable/reusable materials at the refuse stations. "But we will also be able to revamp the one-stop retail outlet to make it more user friendly and convenient for customers".

The new SuperShed, on 1500sq m of covered and outdoor retail space, will open on Saturday 30^th September. "Through providing a central accessible location with better parking to accommodate up to 120 vehicles, well-presented and cleaned goods, more choice of products, professional retail staff and promotion, we envisage that more materials will find permanent outlets," says Ms McSweeney.

As well as being an important component of Christchurch City’s drive to zero waste by 2020, the new system has a strong community focus through the provision of space and a retail outlet for the upgrading of goods by small business and community employment groups.

"In the long term we expect a far higher volume of materials to be recovered for use than is done at present. The system is based on similar successful operations in Australia, which have increased turn-over of recovered materials while reducing over-all operating costs in the long-term".

Further information:
Joan McSweeney,
Business Development Manager,
Recovered Materials Foundation,
(03) 348 0595 or (025) 246 0119.

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