Scion is to investigate the feasibility of remediating treated timber with government funding of $163,000, Associate Environment Minister Scott Simpson announced today.
Chromated copper arsenate (CCA) is a preservative for timber that has been commonly used in New Zealand since the 1950s. However, CCA-treated timber becomes a hazardous waste material when sent to landfill, that can leach arsenic into the ground.
“To date, there have been no practical remediation options available to this problem, so I am delighted that Scion believes they may have one and that I am able to support them in testing its feasibility,” Mr Simpson says.
“This study could provide New Zealand with an opportunity to divert CCA-treated timber from landfills and offer an environmentally friendly solution reusing both the wood fibre and the extracted metals.”
A 2013 report suggested that currently between 12,000 and 42,000 tonnes of treated timber could be sent to landfills nationally per annum, not including the significant estimated nationwide contribution of rural waste.
The grant, provided through the Waste Minimisation Fund, will fund a two year project, based in Rotorua.
The Waste Minimisation Fund provides financial support to projects that reduce environmental harm and provide social, economic and cultural benefits. It is funded from a levy introduced by the National-led Government in 2009, which is charged on waste disposed of at landfills to discourage waste and to fund recycling initiatives. Over $80 million has been awarded to more than 130 projects to date.
| A beehive release || July 3, 2017 |||
Foreign Minister Knew that It is the Putting Right That Counts
New Zealand’s foreign minister Gerry Brownlee’s deft handling of the small country’s Middle East posture was timed and executed to perfection.
The former school wood working instructor demonstrated in his new post the understated flair in this realpolitik that has been a characteristic of his long Parliamentary career.
From the outset he understood that in a favoured New Zealand mercantile jingle that it is the “putting right that counts.”
His backtracking on the New Zealand security council participation in the censoring of Israel demanded that he de-fuse the issue, and do so without appearing to snub the rulers of any real or potential trading markets in the region’s Gulf States.
This was accomplished by delivering an apology that was not an apology.
Mr Brownlee had from the start sensed the danger of the UN resolution being allowed to swing unmodified in the always volatile Middle East diplomatic atmosphere.
He had to tread carefully in order to be seen as treating the issue as a high-minded moral milestone instead of the positioning being seen for what it was---a calculated trade-off to appease what was then an unqualified official belief that the Obama presidency would seamlessly make the transition to a Clinton one.
In order to sustain this robe-touching exercise he also had to skitter carefully around some other matters, notably keeping on side with the Gulf traders who much earlier had been told they could go ahead with receiving live sheep shipments and also with the Green lobby which remains determined to making sure that they do not..
The live sheep trade and its banning is a symbolic touchstone of the Greens
Mr Brownlee’s instrument was the apology that was an apology or not an apology, depending on the angle that you examined it from.
The product of the diplomatic soft shoe shuffle in three dimensional terms was the resumption of diplomatic exchanges with Israel.
Meanwhile Mr Brownlee’s government continues to plug away with the equipping of the Gulf processing depot which is the visible-yet-invisible reparation due to the live sheep importing lobby as compensation for the reneging on the original undertaking to supply them with the live shipments.
Mr Brownlee saw the danger to his government of the whole seraglio left as it was dangling unsecured in the lead up to the general election this year. It had to be dealt with before it intruded on the rather more fevered atmosphere of the campaign.
More importantly, by taking the issue substantially out of play he has smoothed relations with the Trump administration, the one that the professional diplomats failed to see coming.
| From the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. || Monday 3 July 2017 |||
Associate Environment Minister Scott Simpson has released a review into the waste disposal levy.
The review makes three specific recommendations to support targeted investment in areas that will return the greatest waste minimisation outcomes:
Strategy - develop a clear vision, strategy and set of outcomes for the future direction of the waste disposal levy. Data - invest in developing a national waste data collection and evaluation framework that targets key information to prioritise waste issues and measure the effectiveness of the waste disposal levy. Approach - develop and implement a staged approach to applying the waste disposal levy across additional classes of landfills.
“In coming years, the focus will be to encourage businesses to rethink the design of their products and systems in order to reduce the harmful impacts of wasted resources.
“The Waste Minimisation Fund will continue to invest in meaningful projects that provide waste minimisation outcomes. Further support will also be provided to territorial authorities to invest in the infrastructure needed to lift effectiveness in collecting and processing recoverable, valuable resources in their communities.”
“The overarching approach will remain to work with our partners to reduce the environmental harm associated with waste, whilst also providing social, economic, and health benefits.”
The $10 per tonne waste disposal levy was introduced in 2009 under the Waste Minimisation Act and applies to waste deposited at defined landfill facilities. The Minister is required to review the levy’s effectiveness every three years. Since it was introduced, the levy has raised more than $192 million which has been distributed to national and local initiatives to reduce waste.
Related Documents
Review of the Effectiveness of the Waste Disposal Levy 2017
| A Beehive release || July 3, 2017 |||
A new research study has identified agri-business as one of the best opportunities to use the internet of things (IoT) for economic advantage in New Zealand, mainly because of the contribution that agriculture already makes to the Kiwi economy. The research study was commissioned by the New Zealand IoT Alliance, an independent member funded group of tech firms, major corporates, startups, universities and government agencies. Alliance chair and NZTech chief executive Graeme Muller says agriculture is an important part of the New Zealand economy producing 40 percent of the country’s merchandise exports so agricultural productivity is critical for the economic wellbeing of all New Zealanders. While New Zealand's agricultural productivity growth is still ahead of the world average of 1.7 percent a year, it has remained relatively low at 2.5 percent between 2008-2015. Increasing use of IoT technology is needed to lift productivity. Additionally, with increasing environmental and sustainability pressures, New Zealand's farmers are looking to technology to make their operations more compliant, Muller says. “Given the scale of the estimated productivity gains across the agri-sector through better use of IoT, farmers, farm suppliers, the tech industry and Government should resolve to accelerate its uptake. “While farmers are starting to use technology, including IoT, to increase productivity and reduce costs in the face of increased competition and compliance requirements, the uptake of IoT in agriculture is relatively low across the sector as a whole. “There is no dispute that using IoT systems to augment the intuition of the farmer will have a huge impact in terms of improving productivity on the farm and improving its environmental and sustainability performance. There is the ability to grow more while using less in a way that the community will find more acceptable. “For fruit and wine growers, frost conditions can decimate acres of fruit blossom in a single cold night. To mitigate the risk of loss, IoT solutions can predict and manage frost conditions. “Farmers and growers are value purchasers. Cost is less of an issue if the value is obvious. For example, a farmer might struggle to see the value in a $20 a month phone upgrade, but have no qualms buying a $130,000 tractor. “Farmers seek decision support for farming and automation for compliance. As technology makes its way onto the fields in the future, more farm management will be done from a desk or device instead of in the field. “New Zealand pack houses, such as A. S. Wilcox and Sons, are involved in the entire supply chain of fresh vegetables including growing, picking, processing, packing and transporting. Technology has become an integral part of their success. “The Wilcox pack house uses technology to integrate operations from the field to the customer and to ensure the best product is put in the best place. Instead of people, they can send drones to check crops for quality and growth. Sensors on machinery report how much harvesters are gathering.” Embracing IoT technology may be a big cultural shift for some in the farming community yet the potential benefits are enormous, with an estimated $448 million in net benefit to New Zealand over the next 10 years from better use of IoT for water management on dairy farms alone, Muller says. Industry needs to build its credibility within farming to encourage investment in technology. While a startup company may have a good IoT product, if they have no credibility with the farming community, it will struggle to sell. Meanwhile, the extended time frame to create credibility can simply be too long.
| An NZ IoT Alliance release || July 3, 2017 |||
Cities will become safer and more desirable to live in when the internet of things (IoT) takes hold a research study report says. The IoT research was commissioned by the New Zealand IoT Alliance, an independent member funded group of tech firms, major corporates, startups, universities and government agencies. Alliance chair and NZTech chief executive Graeme Muller says by managing traffic flows to reduce congestion, deterring crime using intelligent lighting and cognitive CCTV, enhancing public transport and using adaptive city lighting both for aesthetics and safety, IoT can make a city a more desirable place to be. Data collected from IoT sensors can assist council to create evidence based policy. In Wellington, a safe cities programme uses cognitive CCTV and overlays data from police, social welfare, district health board and organisations such as City Mission.
City based IoT initiatives, often called smart cities, are designed to save on the costs of running a city, making it more efficient and providing a better experience for the citizens who inhabit, visit or work there. “The data is used operationally to help make the city safer and the Wellington council is also using it to inform its new policy on homelessness,” Muller says.
A city can also use IoT to start to understand the economic return on public events. Wellington city for example, is trialling stereoscopic cameras to count people at different choke points in the city. The system also uses wi-fi to understand the flow of pedestrians. This is enabling the council to better understand attendance at its free public events, from which an economic return on those events can be calculated. “Auckland Transport is utilising an IoT network to improve school safety by connecting school zone road signs to the network, a proof of concept solution developed by Massey University in conjunction with Auckland based industrial design company Motiv. “Auckland Transport is delivering a project that will see 40,000 individually addressable street lights deployed. The lights will be managed by an IoT central management system. “Connectivity is currently via the cellular network but Auckland Transport are moving from SIM to fixed connectivity for more assured capacity, speed and security reasons. They will retain SIM connectivity for hot standby. The driver for the project was the anticipated cost savings from a reduction in electricity consumption and reduced maintenance costs,” Muller says. City infrastructure maintenance will benefit from IoT. Tracking the structural health and use of highways, roads, tunnels, bridges and buildings reduces costs by optimising maintenance frequency. IoT can also reduce the time required to ascertain structural integrity of assets post-quake or other disaster event. For example, Wellington City Council are implementing a project to sense whether a building is safe to enter after a quake. The report says smart on-street car parking reduces congestion in the city, improves usage and occupancy of car parks and improves revenue collection from parking fees. It is estimated there is a potential $128 million net benefit to New Zealand, in present value terms, from the use of IoT in the management of city infrastructure over the next 10 years, and an extra $27 million net benefit from IoT use in managing on-street parking, in the three main cities alone.
| An NZ IoT Alliance release || July 3, 2017 |||
AUCKLAND, New Zealand, July 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Stratasys Asia Pacific, subsidiary of Stratasys Ltd. (Nasdaq: SSYS), the 3D printing and additive manufacturing solutions company, announced today it has expanded its partnership with Ricoh New Zealand Ltd. (Ricoh New Zealand), a subsidiary of Ricoh Company, Ltd. Japan. Ricoh will be representing the entire Stratasys product line, in addition to the existing MakerBot line. The move is aimed to improve the availability of [Stratasys'] 3D printing products and help drive adoption in New Zealand, as well as help local organizations accelerate their transformation to digital manufacturing and maximize business potential.
Ricoh New Zealand offers added value to the Stratasys partner network with its long-standing experience in offering office imaging, production printing, IT services and document solutions to organizations ranging from government departments and education to enterprise and small-to-medium businesses. Combined with Stratasys' expertise in the 3D printing domain and comprehensive suite of professional 3D printing solutions and materials, the partnership will aid Stratasys' commitment to demonstrate to organizations and local businesses, the versatile applications of 3D printing solutions -- from multi-material and multi-functional prototypes -- to customized tools and end-use production parts.
"We believe that additive manufacturing is one of the technologies integral for companies to realize industry 4.0, and we are committed to equipping customers with the most suitable 3D printing solution, from a desktop printer up to production system, helping them innovate and maximize efficiency with the support of trusted local partners," commented Shiry Saar, ANZ Manager for Stratasys. "We are confident that this partnership will help us to better understand the local information technology and industrial automation landscape in New Zealand, thereby helping more companies optimize production capabilities and expand business opportunities."
"Partnering with an industry leader like Stratasys allows us to offer the latest 3D printing technologies for professional and industrial users; thus fulfilling our commitment to continue to empower companies and individuals with services and technologies that inspire innovation, enhance sustainability and boost business growth," said Mike Pollok, Managing Director of Ricoh New Zealand. "Ricoh New Zealand views this partnership as a meeting of minds, as both companies are committed to making our clients' businesses smarter, simpler, faster, leaner and more sustainable."
Stratasys and channel partners will continue to offer comprehensive 3D printing solutions and vertical applications to companies across key sectors, including automotive, education, medical, consumer goods and electronics, facilitating businesses to expedite their design and manufacturing processes.
For nearly 30 years, Stratasys Ltd. (NASDAQ:SSYS) has been a defining force in 3D printing and additive manufacturing, shaping the way things are made. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Rehovot, Israel, the company empowers customers across vertical markets, including aerospace, automotive, healthcare, education, and consumer products, by enabling new approaches for design and manufacturing. Stratasys solutions offer design freedom and manufacturing flexibility, reducing time-to-market and lowering development costs, while improving products and communication. Subsidiaries include MakerBot and Solidscape, as well as Stratasys Direct Manufacturing, which offers 3D printed parts on demand. Stratasys also offers Expert Services in North America and over 4 million free, 3D printable design files through its Thingiverse and GrabCAD communities. Stratasys has 1,200 granted or pending additive manufacturing patents and has received more than 30 technology and leadership awards. Online at: www.stratasys.com or http://blog.stratasys.com/. Follow us on LinkedIn.
Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
The statements in this press release relating to Stratasys' expectations of the benefits that it will receive from its partnership with Ricoh New Zealand Ltd are forward-looking statements reflecting management's current expectations and beliefs. These forward-looking statements are based on current information that is, by its nature, subject to rapid and even abrupt change. Due to risks and uncertainties associated with Stratasys' business, actual results could differ materially from those projected or implied by these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the risk that the benefits that Stratasys expects from the partnership will not materialize, or could be less, than Stratasys currently expects, due to technical or other unforeseen reasons; and other risk factors more fully explained under the caption "Risk Factors" in Stratasys' most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on March 3, 2017. Stratasys is under no obligation (and expressly disclaims any obligation) to update or alter its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as otherwise required by the rules and regulations of the SEC.
Engineers say new legislation marks a step forward in improving New Zealand’s building stock.
Structural Engineering Society (SESOC) spokesperson Paul Campbell says 1 July was a positive day for engineers and for Councils.
“It’s about having a better framework and tools for assessing buildings, which will help improve our building stock and increase our seismic resilience. It also means a more consistent approach to the management of earthquake-prone buildings.
“The new legislation will encourage discussion between owners and engineers on how owners can proactively manage and improve buildings.”
New Zealand Society of Earthquake Engineering (NZSEE) President Peter Smith says the new engineering guidelines create a more systematic approach to seismic assessment.
“They provide clearer definitions and more detailed guidance on ratings, which will make assessments more consistent.
IPENZ Chief Executive Susan Freeman-Greene says building owners looking for an engineer to carry out a seismic assessment should make sure the engineer has received training on the new guidelines.
“Building owners should use Chartered Professional Engineers when commissioning seismic assessments.”
“We recommend that building owners also ask engineers about their experience of that specific type of building and whether they are members of SESOC, NZSEE or NZGS.”
| An IPENZ release || July 3, 2017 |||
Tetra Pak has launched its next generation high shear inline mixer, offering packers and filler advanced ingredient mixing performance and lower operating costs.
Featuring a new design that produces finer, more consistent and more stable emulsions, the new R370-1000D reduces the need for downstream homogenisation, delivers a better quality end product and cuts energy bills.
The mixer features a built-in deaerating system, a flexible powder introduction system and a newly-designed mixing head.
This allows the new machine to handle viscosities of up to 2,000 cP and break the size of the droplets to 1 micron (0.001 mm), significantly smaller than the industry average of 7 microns.
The output of a much finer, more consistent and more stable emulsion reduces the need for downstream homogenisation, a highly energy-intensive step in food processing.
Monica Gimre, executive vice president, processing systems, at Tetra Pak, said: “We developed this revolutionary new design in direct response to customer needs. A complete break with the status quo, our new mixer streamlines production steps, reduces investment needs, lowers costs and sets a new benchmark for the industry.”
| A Packaging News release || June 30, 2017 |||
Palace of the Alhambra, Spain
By: Charles Nathaniel Worsley (1862-1923)
From the collection of Sir Heaton Rhodes
Oil on canvas - 118cm x 162cm
Valued $12,000 - $18,000
Offers invited over $9,000
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242
Mount Egmont with Lake
By: John Philemon Backhouse (1845-1908)
Oil on Sea Shell - 13cm x 14cm
Valued $2,000-$3,000
Offers invited over $1,500
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242