| 31 Northland Business Awards: Extrutec Award-winning business fills void Richard Loader Extrutec won the Environmental Excellence Award at the 2021 Northland Business Excellence Awards. REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Customs Clearance & Forwarding Imports & Exports Proven & trusted service Clearance Clear customs faster Delivery Directly to your door We ensure excellence in all aspects of the import / export, customs clearance, freight & distribution process and have proudly been established since 1992. Whilst global trade evolves and changes occur at lightning speed, it has become more critical for the importer and exporter to ensure compliance with all border protocols. Our goal is to assist our customers with staying compliant with customs while seeking the greatest relief from duty and tax implications. If you are looking for an experienced, proven and trustworthy customs brokerage service, please feel quite comfortable about contacting us directly P 09 366 0522 • www.crawfordandwalker.co.nz SIMPLIFYING CUSTOMS BROKERAGE SO YOU CAN FOCUS ON YOUR BUSINESS Passionate about the environment and finding environmental solutions to environmental problems, Joe Wiid is on a mission that is taking his business Extrutec Ltd to exciting heights while helping make Planet Earth a healthier place to live. Extrutec’s vision is to replace all plastic filaments used in agriculture and horticulture including twine, tapes and wraps with biodegradable alternatives that work with the environment, not against it. Affirming its good work, the Marsden Point based business won the Environmental Excellence Award at the 2021 Northland Business Excellence Awards. Extrutec stood out for its innovative approach to finding a sustainable and positive environmental solution to a significant waste issue in the industry, said the judges. “Extrutec has not only developed a biodegradable product but is further demonstrating environmental responsibility, helping its customers implement systems to compost and reuse the product after use, closing the product lifecycle.” Joe says that the whole Extrutec team has worked extremely hard, putting in many long hours creating something from nothing, filling a market void with a solution. “We’re all very proud of the achievement and that we can be part of this whole change process,” says Joe. “We’re grateful and happy that we’ve managed to do it. One of the benefits of entering the awards that’s very important to us is recognition that we’re making a change to the environment. By getting that recognition you also get the exposure that shows you’re working on some environmental products and making a change from plastic pollution.” Extrutec — derived from the technology of extrusion — was born in 2005 to manufacture nylon filaments for line trimmers and went on to develop plastic filaments for medical applications and commercial fishing. After attending a conference six years ago Joe learned just how much plastic was finding its way into the world’s oceans and came away determined to make a difference. “When we saw all the pollution going into the ocean and the opportunities to make a difference, we stopped making plastic marine gear and focused on getting biodegradable solutions to the market. That’s been our focus for the last six years. We want to change all our products to biodegradable and environmentally sustainable.” All of Extrutec’s product development is customer led. Starting with the development of twine for capsicum growers, Extrutec has now developed and manufactures twine for a wide range of agricultural and horticultural industries. “We supply twine for most of New Zealand hop growers and we’re currently talking to Kiwifruit growers. We’ve developed a range of biodegradable twines for different growers because the environment is different for each industry. If you have a massive glass house there are few external factors like wind and the temperature is very constant. But a product for outdoors like hops which is exposed to elements such as wind or hail is very different. Every product that we manufacture has its own environmental demands and that’s where the challenge lies. We spend a lot of time on the farms with the growers testing and doing trials to make the products work.” Now in the seventh year of its environmental journey, Extrutec is gradually moving into overseas markets including Australia and the US and is hoping to enter the EU. Joe says one of the big things Extrutec is currently working on is baling twine. “No-one has managed to crack that one yet, but we’re working on it. Bailage wrapping is one of our next steps. It’s still early days for us in this business and we’re just getting into the race.”
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