SaveBoard, a New Zealand company making construction boards from locally sourced packaging waste, has demonstrated compliance with the New Zealand building code as an alternative solution product.
“Demonstrating compliance with the New Zealand building code is a key step we need for architects and engineers to be able to specify our products, which are now live on our website, saveboard.nz, ready for specifying,” says SaveBoard CEO Paul Charteris.
SaveBoard’s construction boards can be used as exposed interior lining in garages and feature walls, substrate for warm walls and warm roofs, or an alternative for interior walls and ceilings.
The company set up its first New Zealand plant to convert packaging waste into construction boards at Te Rapa near Hamilton this year. In August, it received a A$1.74 million grant from the Australian and New South Wales Governments towards the cost of setting up a plant in New South Wales.
Charteris says making high-performance low carbon building materials using 100% recycled materials from waste is a game-changer for the future of sustainable construction.
SaveBoard currently receives industrial waste from large food and beverage companies wanting to achieve ambitious waste reduction targets. Soon it will recycle consumer waste including beverage cartons and coffee cups. The plant will save up to 4,000 tonnes of waste from landfill every year.
The technology was developed in the United States where it has been widely used for more than a decade. The product was chosen by Tesla as the membrane roof substrate for its 200,000 square metre gigafactory in Nevada. The Tesla roof upcycled equivalent to 2,000 tonnes of composite plastics saving 336,000kgs of embodied CO2.
SaveBoard is backed by Freightways, Tetra Pak and Closed Loop. Freightways CEO Mark Troughear says its investment in SaveBoard helps realise its commitment to circular waste solutions while providing a new growth category of waste collection management.
Tetra Pak Oceania managing director Andrew Pooch says Tetra Pak’s investment in SaveBoard will, “help limit waste to landfill and improve local waste collection and recycling infrastructure”.
Closed Loop managing director Rob Pascoe says SaveBoard products will be the lowest carbon footprint board products on the market.
“SaveBoard promises a better, greener, more affordable solution that will lead to a more sustainable future. It’s the perfect example of the circular economy in action.”