Jamie Bull, left, with Jane Bell and Katy Horwood at the Zero Waste Ōtaki domestic wood recycling base. Photo / David Haxton
Jamie Bull, left, with Jane Bell and Katy Horwood at the Zero Waste Ōtaki domestic wood recycling base. Photo / David Haxton
Next to the Ōtaki transfer station, in Riverbank Rd, is a large assortment of second-hand wood.
From plywood, fence posts, weatherboard, native timber and more, the Zero Waste Ōtaki domestic wood recycling base is a great place to go if you need some wood for a house or garden project or to do some upcycling.
Or if your load of rubbish to the transfer station includes wood, you can drop it off into a skip, knowing that it might be reused by someone and that you've done a small bit for the environment by diverting it from the tip.
Only MDF or particle board isn't accepted as there's not enough protection from the rain.
Zero Waste Ōtaki sorts through the skip for recycling.
People can make an offer for wood they want or larger amounts may have a pricetag, such as five tonnes of good quality weatherboard from the Paraparaumu Memorial Hall, which is undergoing extensive renovations.
Weatherboard from the Paraparaumu Memorial Hall. Photo / David Haxton
The wood recycling project, three years in the making, has received support from Kāpiti Coast District Council and transfer station companies Midwest Disposals and Envirowaste.
The council's new waste projects manager Ruth Clarke has been a strong advocate too.
Zero Waste Ōtaki is based where the late Barry Lucinsky's glass crushing operation was.
The base is steadily taking shape with a shipping container, funded by the Nikau Foundation, already in use.
Spearheading the project are facilitators Jamie Bull and Jane Bell as well as a team of passionate volunteers.
Bull said it was an exciting project.
"I'm a great believer in community and I'm interested in sustainability.
"We're in it for the long-term.
"For us it's about diversion from landfill, it's about education and communication in the community about waste, and it's about pathways to employment.
"We're in discussions with Ōtaki College about a partnership."
"When I moved to Ōtaki, 17 years ago, there was this huge pile of wood at the transfer station and everyone else came and took it.
"That lasted until council stopped running the waste management and rubbish disposal and it was contracted out.
"And then with health and safety and everything else, it stopped and all the wood ended up going into the tip."
A free firewood pile. Photo / David Haxton
Bull thanked the council and companies for backing the project as well as Clarke, whom she described as "absolutely fantastic".
A Zero Waste Ōtaki Facebook page and a new website, being created by Aotearoa Digital, will provide various information including types of wood available.
