Hall Brothers Transport and Recycling committed to reducing waste in Dunedin

One of the companies making a huge impact on reducing waste in Dunedin are the Hall Brothers Recycling and Transport group of companies. 

In the last financial year, the company saved 35,000 tonnes of rubbish going to the landfill by turning this into reusable material for use in sub base and earth works/backfill.

Items were more commonly disposed of in the landfill in the past, but in the last decade increasing costs have prompted a major change in the industry, owner Doug Hall said.

Machinery was bought to help items be recycled, and people have started to throw less away, he said.

It's important to look at what each product could be reused for, rather than creating a product with just a single/one time use.

Hall Brothers Transport and Recycling is passionate about recycling, and in 2006-07 a banded beast was purchased, which can turn large trees into mulch and composting to help with waste minimisation.

Concrete recycling gear and screens were also purchased in later years.

For Doug and Hall Brothers, recycling all started when  Doug was working at the landfill and started to see the value of other peoples dumped items as things that could be reused and sold.

Recycling is a worldwide issue and something each Dunedin household needs to do, he said.

"If we all work as a team to recycle as much as we can, it benefits the whole city.''
An easy way for households to get involved was to stop contaminating kerb-side recycling by putting the wrong types of plastic into the recycling bins.

It's important to think about the end use of each purchase, and how much reusability there is with each item and what to do with any packaging it comes in.

For example, each week Hall Brothers takes three to four truck loads of vegetable scraps from Kaan's Catering Supplies Ltd to feed local cows-something they have been doing since the 1980s when the company was formed.

Since then, the company has expanded from just one digger and truck, to more than 100 trucks, diggers, and associated gear.

Doug and the team can demolish and clear asphalt, and recycle it into new roading projects.

For more information, give them a call on 477-1141.