Project Overview
Aotearoa New Zealand has a growing landfill problem, with the amount of waste being sent to landfills on an upward trend. In 2022, more than 3.6 million tonnes of waste material was sent to levied landfills throughout the country, according to the Ministry for the Environment. That’s enough waste to fill about 1800 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Global Contracting Solutions (GCS) is proposing the next phase in sustainable development to help reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills, add economic growth, and support New Zealand’s environmental shift towards a circular economy.
GCS plans to build Paewira, a proposed Energy from Waste (EfW) facility in the industrial-zoned area at 401 Racecourse Road in Te Awamutu. If built, Paewira will divert up to 150,000 tonnes of waste away from landfill each year, extracting everything that can be recycled, and turning the residual material into energy to produce enough electricity to power 15,000 homes.
![How-does-it-work[43].png](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/0d53e6_de033f35cdb045a8a503f943b0166375~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_922,h_360,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/How-does-it-work%5B43%5D.png)
The new facility will be an important part of GCS’ parent company Global Metal Solutions’ (GMS) operations, helping contribute to the work they already do in the recycling and waste industry in New Zealand.
GMS currently sends more than 100 tonnes of unrecyclable material to landfill from its own business every day. GMS acknowledges that it needs to improve on this and wants to enable the wider community to have another option to do the same. Paewira provides an option for GMS to reduce its impact on the whenua (land) and achieve its goals of bringing sustainable waste management to the rest of Aotearoa. Waipā is also significant to GMS because the family-operated business has whakapapa connections back to the whenua in the Te Awamutu area.
Along with diverting up to 150,000 tonnes of waste from landfill every year (enough to fill 120 Olympic-sized swimming pools), it will save approximately 80 tonnes of recyclable material that would typically be sent to landfills and turn unrecyclable material into energy using Energy from Waste technology. GMS connects its expertise in industrial-scale waste material handling and recycling with German technology and expertise to meet the strict environmental standards set by New Zealand’s Resource Management Act.
300 jobs will be created during construction and 60 jobs will be created during operation.
Why are we proposing to do this now?
The amount of waste being sent to landfills is showing no sign of slowing down and is having lasting effects on the whenua (land), waterways and air.
As part of this ongoing commitment to local people and more broadly to our planet, the next phase of sustainable development for GMS is to adopt Energy from Waste technology, so that we can eventually move away from landfilling.
Energy from Waste technology is proven worldwide and is recognised as safe by regulators and relevant health organisations. It is also the policy of the New Zealand Government to adopt such practices to reduce emissions and improve its management of waste - a necessary step in achieving climate-related goals of 80 per cent recovery rate by 2030.
GMS does not sell waste treatment technology. It provides services to extract the most recyclable material possible from waste and is proposing this technology not because it is readily available, but because it is the safest, most proven and effective method of utilising non-recyclable materials, rather than dumping them in a hole in the ground. Paewira will recover energy which can be used to make new materials, as well as recycle 20 per cent of the material into metals, non-metallics and aggregates.