featured image for What next? Fence posts without wood

What next? Fence posts without wood

2 December 2019

Business is booming for a Kiwi startup which turns plastic waste into fence posts. The new company, Future Post, has invented an environmentally friendly fence post made from 100 percent recycled plastics.

As well as helping minimise plastic waste, the posts are stronger and more durabkle than traditional fence post designs. General manager of Future Post, Jerome Wenzlick said the idea was born one day on his Waiuku farm.

“We were putting a fence up around an old rubbish dump, and wooden posts were breaking into the ground,” he said. “Now we are part of that circular economy, giving an end-use for something which was destined for the landfill, that’s the cool part about it.”

The company now employs 10 people and produces around 400 posts a day.

Source: Newshub

More Posts

Biomass trial produces industrial heat at less than $3/GJ

A biomass trial at JBS Riverina’s Yanco facility in New South Wales has produced thermal energy at a supply cost of less than $3 per gigajoule (GJ), highlighting the potential for biomass to provide a lower-cost alternative to conventional industrial ...

Beyond Woodchips: Australia’s hardwood plantation industry must innovate

For more than three decades, Australia’s hardwood plantation industry has been built on a simple but largely successful business model: growing world-class plantation fibre for export to Asia’s pulp mills. It has underpinned regional economies, attracted significant investment and established ...

UBC-developed ‘wood foam’ enters production

Inside a new facility at Main Street and Terminal Avenue, wood fibre is moving through a production line and emerging, transformed, as a block of lightweight “wood foam.” For Dr. Feng Jiang, who first developed the material in his laboratory ...

Free program to help SMEs advance AI and digital tech ideas in Queensland

The free eight-week online program, delivered by Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, helps businesses turn early-stage ideas into actionable R&D plans while building connections with expert facilitators and researchers. Offered through the Queensland Government-funded Regional University Industry Collaboration (RUIC) program, ...

Canada and Australia are asking similar questions – but arriving at different answers

New Canadian research echoes themes explored by Australia’s System 600 while highlighting different approaches to industrialised housing. When Perkins&Will recently released its research into a modular mass timber housing system for Canada, the immediate takeaway was straightforward: another country is ...

Enforcement data reveals where forestry needs to lift its game

Strengthening organisational capability, planning, supervision and risk management remains one of the forestry sector’s biggest challenges, according to new enforcement data released by WorkSafe New Zealand. During the 2025/26 business year, WorkSafe conducted 526 assessments across the forestry industry. One ...

Testing New Zealand’s first heavy electric loader

A Volvo L120 Electric wheel loader is helping PermaPine test what sustainable equipment can really deliver in one of New Zealand’s most demanding timber processing environments. Set on a 100-acre site outside Taupō, PermaPine is New Zealand’s largest manufacturer of ...

Turning forestry waste into Australian-made jet fuel

The federal government has announced a $32 million investment to help support a plan to convert forestry waste into Australian-made jet fuel. The funding, made through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), will be provided to Melbourne based company HAMR ...

Project update: Connecting forests, mills and buildings

ARC Advance Timber Hub Project “An Open-Data Framework for Forest-to-Building Value Chain Mapping” is addressing a major challenge for Australia’s forest and wood products sector: how to better understand, visualise and coordinate data across the entire value chain – from forest resource ...

Red Stag’s first-of-a-kind CLT modular production line

The Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon, opened the Southern Hemisphere’s first off-site production line to use Cross Laminated Timber, CLT, as the structure. The initiative is a collaboration between local industry leader Red Stag, German architecture firm NKBAK and Austria constructor ...

Engineered wood products & the future skills needed

ForestWorks to Investigate Skills Need in the Manufacturing of Engineered Wood Products. Australia’s forestry and timber sector has always evolved in response to changing markets, technologies and community needs. Today, engineered wood products (EWPs) are emerging as an increasingly important part ...

Video: Jubilee Sawmill’s co-generation boiler project

OneFortyOne has released a new video providing an overview of the Jubilee Co-Generation Boiler Project, one of the most significant investments in the future of the Jubilee Sawmill and the company’s sustainability journey. The video explains how the project will ...

Comact acquires Checkmate Precision Cutting Tools

Comact announced last week that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Checkmate Precision Cutting Tools, a manufacturer and service provider of bandsaws, circular saws, industrial knives, and complete saw shop solutions with operations across New Zealand and Australia. ...

A novel wood bark-based packaging coating material

In the COCOBIN project, coordinated by the University of Oulu, coating materials are being developed from suberin, a natural compound found for example in birch bark. In plants, suberin acts as a protective layer and prevents the loss of water. Up ...

CarbonScape to accelerate industrial scale-up of sustainable bio-based graphite materials

CATL and CarbonScape enter a strategic investment and partnership to advance the commercial scale-up and deployment of sustainable bio-based graphite materials for next-generation battery supply chains Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL), the world’s largest battery manufacturer, has entered into ...

Hundreds of wood manufacturers lift their safety game

WorkSafe New Zealand has provided practical safety guidance to hundreds of wood manufacturing businesses, as part of a significant proactive focus on one of the country’s most dangerous sectors. WorkSafe’s health and safety inspectors visited 657 businesses between January and March ...

FWPA sets future direction for timber durability research

Forest and Wood Products Australia (FWPA) have conﬁrmed the next phase of industry investment in timber durability and performance-in-use research, following consideration of the 2026 Mid-Term Review of the National Centre for Timber Durability and Design Life (NCTDDL). The FWPA ...

WoodTECH 2026 Event Summary

The Innovatek WoodTECH 2026 conference series, held in Rotorua, New Zealand (18–19 June) and Brisbane, Australia (23–24 June), explored the transition towards automated sawmilling and lumber manufacturing technologies for the forest and wood processing sectors. More than 25 international speakers ...

Wood fuelled boiler installed at Invercargill Prison

Department of Corrections New Zealand has successfully transitioned away from coal heating at Invercargill Prison, replacing its final coal boiler with a modern renewable wood pellet boiler system delivered by Apricus Eco. The installation marks a major milestone in reducing operational carbon ...

Building finds its balance in groundbreaking earthquake test

A timber building that kept itself centred through major shaking has aced a full‑scale earthquake test with no damage, with more than 60 industry professionals looking on. At the University of Auckland’s Structures Test Hall, engineers have carried out one ...

Plantations essential for QLD housing & future timber plan

The peak state body for the Queensland forest and timber industry has highlighted the significant role plantations play in supporting housing and construction activity while at the same time supporting local jobs, regional economies and carbon capture and removal. Timber Queensland ...