From humble beginnings as a local “dump shop” to Merv and Ricarda’s mission to continually increase the diversion of waste to landfill and create a circular economy in Tasman.
Our Beginnings
The site from where Weka Peckers Recycling operates has quite a history for locals as a “dump shop”. Initially, a skip hire, dumping and sorting service operated from our current site and after that it began to operate as a place to sell these second hand items and offer some repaired items like lawnmowers. The previous owners, operating as Motueka Recycle Depot, repaired and upcycled some furniture and also made some rustic solid timber furniture. They also worked with some antique dealers, deceased estates and in second hand trading. Weka Peckers is also known as the “Mariri Mall”.
Since we, Ricarda and Merv, bought the business in October 2020, we have gradually changed the presentation and organisation of items. In the first few months of running Weka Peckers, we soon realised that the amount of items being brought to the council’s Resource Recovery Centre is horrific, especially when you see huge trucks loading up and heading to York Valley to fill up this landfill site. Since then all our efforts are focused on how we can reduce waste to landfill in Tasman in a viable and sustainable way to work towards a circular economy.
Our Treasure Trove
We continue to run the reuse and recycling shop but operate quite a bit different from the usual op-shop as we have a large site available and our focus lies on the environment.
Our range of stock and product has increased immensely since we first took over: the shop covers antiques and collectables of all sorts, vintage and retro, bric-a-brac, crockery, household items and electric kitchenware, stereos, speakers & gaming consoles, bedding, furniture from bathroom to toolshed, plumbing parts, hardware, sports gear, tools, & building materials, like timber, rimu flooring, doors, windows and more – treasures of any kind you can think off. Weka Peckers is Tasman’s destination for any DIY project with a steadily growing yard of timber and building products.
Our decisions on which items are taken on is based mainly on two principles: does the item have a place in our local circular economy and are they properly recyclable if they do not sell?
We try to make resources go a long way and keep them in a circular economy as long as possible, but at some stage items do reach their end of life.
Merv’s and Ricarda’s focus for Weka Peckers Recycling is to continually increase the diversion of waste to landfill through building more infrastructure at their site and establishing different recycling projects and initiatives.
Our Future
Merv’s and Ricarda’s vision is to create a more sustainable future for Tasman. This includes offering sustainable recycling and diversion options for materials and packaging that is hard to recycle in the conventional waste streams offered by local councils or other groups.
Our Mission
Our mission is to continually increase the diversion of waste to landfill and thereby reduce the carbon emission caused by landfill sites. At the same time we work towards creating a circular economy in Tasman. This is apparent in initiatives we lead and support in this area. One example is the collection of Food & Beverage Cartons. As a voluntary drop-off location we gather the material that is used at saveBOARD to make low-carbon building materials and in turn offer these products for sale at our site.
In the first three years Weka Peckers Recycling has diverted nearly 2000t of items from landfill. That’s 80 x 40ft containers full of recovered items!
Our Partners & Supporters
