Isn’t it ironic that Waste Management (WM), a company owned by Bejing Capital, is the first to show that the circular economy can work well in NZ.
Watch this video so learn: what do they do differently…
WM is collecting our waste, puts it onto landfills, where the waste is anaerobically split and is producing Methane, this methane gets captured and turned into electricity (12 MW, enough to power 12,000 houses, a green house next door), this electricity is then used to power the electric collection vehicles.
At present of the 800+ trucks WM is using in NZ, the first are being converted to electric.
Hopefully, NZ technology like the one from Zero Emission Vehicle in Palmerston North or from Dragaville founded WrightSpeed, will be used for further fleet conversion.
If the NZ trial works well, it is assumed that the owners of WM will scale the model in China.
How amazing is this NZ testbed story?
If the EV technology would get meshed with autonomous vehicle (AV) technology, NZ could be the world’s leaders in electrification and automation of the waste management process. The EV and autonomously driven truck could automatically pick-up the waste bins and do the waste runs at night or other non-busy times, as the noise level of an EV truck is almost not audible. This could be a role model to the rest of the world.
Please talk to your local waste management organisation and council, to start addressing this waste-to-value process in your region as well.
Fig: circular economy (Anthesis Group, 2017)
May be you can spot other waste-to-value opportunities in Northland – like waste hot water/ steam from sawmills, cement making or refining process. If so, please do something about it yourself or get in touch with us.
Northland Innovation Centre 