Huggies® and Envirocomp Ltd announce plans for Wellington

Canterbury based Envirocomp has revealed that it hopes to open its 2nd plant in the Hutt Valley early next year. The company which launched the first commercial plant to compost disposable nappies and other sanitary hygiene products in 2009 received $30,000 from the Waste Minimisation Fund to conduct a feasibility study into the market for a similar plant in Wellington.

Kimberly-Clark New Zealand which markets HUGGIES® Nappies, supported the study by conducting research with its Wellington based HUGGIES® club database as part of its ongoing sponsorship.

At today’s launch hosted at the Beehive by Canterbury MP Nicky Wagner, Envirocomp founder Karen Upston thanked Central and Local Government for its support:

“The grant from the Waste Minimisation Fund has made this work possible and with the help of Hutt City Council and Upper Hutt Council we have identified a potential site to service households and businesses in the Wellington region. The business model for Envirocomp is predicated on support from local government. Councils in the Greater Wellington Regional are working with us to identify how they can be involved whether through a land package; provision of green waste to be used as a bulking agent in the compost unit; or offering incentives to rate payers.”

“The market size in Wellington is similar to that in Canterbury with 7432 tonnes sanitary hygiene products disposed of to landfill each year. The plant will initially compost 1300 tonnes per annum with the capacity to double that within the first year.”
The study shows that nappies make up the bulk of the total sanitary hygiene waste in Wellington. There are an estimated 17,000 babies under 2.5 wearing disposable nappies in the region which represent our target audience. In Canterbury, the plant has processed 5 million nappies into compost since it opened.
The volume of adult incontinence products is growing representing around 37% of total sanitary hygiene waste. Currently 2749 tonnes or 3 million adult incontinence products are disposed of to landfill in Wellington each year.

Grant Hartley, Head of Marketing for Kimberly-Clark New Zealand spoke about the four year relationship between HUGGIES® and Envirocomp:

“The relationship started in 2007 when I phoned Karen after seeing her talk on TV about her nappy composting trial in the garden of her lifestyle block. That meeting started a partnership which has seen Envirocomp establish the first commercial plant for composting nappy waste in New Zealand; build relationships with local and central government and with the financial support from the Government’s Waste Minimisation Fund conduct this feasibility study into the commercial viability for a 2nd plant.”

“We know from members of our HUGGIES® club that there is huge demand around the country for this user pays service. Our research shows that 11% of respondents are willing to pay $2 per week: 41% are willing to pay $5 per week and 21% are willing to pay $10 per week. We also know from our colleagues around the world that there is huge international interest in having Envirocomp go global!”
ends

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