Home-grown sustainability: Hawk Group
Ever wonder where all the paper and cardboard you put out for recycling ends up? As it turns out if you live in Napier or Hastings, it doesn’t go far, landing at Hawk’s processing facility in Whakatū. There it goes through a sorting and pulping process before being turned into brand new, moulded fibre (a […]
Frost Fans: Winds of change
It’s an appropriately chilly morning when I visit Frost Fans, so I assume Andrew will be in a good mood, given that it’s mornings like this the fans earn their keep. And then some. ‘The fans’ that Andrew Priest and the crew make, branded FrostBoss, protect delicate crops on the mornings when the mercury falls […]
Animals Like Us: Pet fine dining
Rob Achten used to be creative director of Icebreaker prior to setting up ‘Animals like Us’ with another local Craig Hickson, and Icebreaker founder Jeremy Moon. “I sort of had two ideas in my head,” says Rob as he recounts the birth of the company. “The first, was that pet food looked awful. You should […]
Demand for sheepskin products on the rise – Napier tannery
One of the country’s last remaining woolskin tanneries says there has been a resurgence in demand for sheepskin as people begin to turn away from plastic alternatives and “vegan” leather options. Founded in 1969, Classic Sheepskins in Napier is the last of its kind to operate entirely locally, with other tanneries either exporting their skins […]
FrostBoss inaugurates blade manufacturing facility
FrostBoss, the global brand of New Zealand Frost Fans Limited, announced the opening of a cutting-edge blade manufacturing facility on September 26. Based in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand, the firm produces frost fans and exports its products to six continents. Frost fans utilize the warmer air located in the atmosphere’s inversion layer to protect crops from […]
HB agritech biz tripling fans
As in frost fans and fan-customers in 11 countries. Check out FrostBoss’ story and new state-of-the-art facility in Hastings. A report from BayBuzz videographer Patrick O’Sullivan.
WoolWorks leads the way in emission reduction
Local wool scourer business WoolWorks received more than $4 million in co-funding from GIDI Fund to convert gas and coal boilers at their Awatoto (Napier) and Washdyke (near Timaru) sites to more modern and efficient hot water heat pump technology. The new hot water pump at Awatoto, which will be one of the most sophisticated and largest in New Zealand, […]
Trash into treasure
Hawke’s Bay is one of the country’s biggest food producers, which also means we are one of the biggest creators of food production waste. But an exciting new project is set to tackle this. The recently launched initiative – Sustainable is Attainable Hawke’s Bay – is working to change trash into treasure, not only keeping […]
$100m Hastings packhouse will be the ‘biggest in the southern hemisphere’
Apple giant T&G will build a $100 million packhouse which the company says will be the biggest of its kind in the southern hemisphere. Construction is getting under way on the new facility at 2 Anderson Rd, Whakatu, and will be 200m by 60m when completed – roughly the size of two football fields. The […]
Retirement on hold for Fidel
He may be 81 years old but that doesn’t stop Fidel Russ turning up to his job as production manager at Wood Mallets in Central Hawke’s Bay at 5.30am four mornings a week. Wood Mallets, located east of Otane, exports hand-crafted polo sticks and croquet mallets to more than 50 countries and Fidel has worked […]
CR Automation raises the bar in post-harvest performance
Founded in 2002 as an automation contracting company CR Automation has a track record of supporting local and international businesses in post-harvest produce handling, water & waste water, food & beverage, and manufacturing. CR Automation director Peter Richards says in 2016 CR expanded into Turnkey Solutions with the establishment of a team comprising of mechanical […]