Sustainable Practices in Electrical Installation
Construction is a very wasteful process, with construction and demolition waste accounting for 40-50% of New Zealand’s total landfill waste according to government and council reports. This is a concern to Roundhouse Electrical and something we take pride in considering with all our jobs from start to finish. Below are a few examples of where Roundhouse Electrical selects products for their reduced environmental impact.
Pre-Wire: Everything Behind the Wall and In-Ground
Conduit is the plastic pipe used to bring power to your house from the street. It is sometimes hidden in walls or could be run up the outside of your wall (hopefully only because it was necessary and not because you went with the cheapest quote). It is often hidden and very rarely thought about.
At Roundhouse Electrical, we use Marley Conduit. Marley uPVC products are Best Environmental Practice (BEP) guideline certified, making them New Zealand’s only manufacturer who can currently boast this. Marley and their wider Aliaxis group have committed to recycling where possible while investigating bio-resin alternatives, eliminating the need for the fossil fuels that are the base of traditional plastics.
The process of this development takes time, ensuring the durability over the lifetime of the product is essential. Therefore, while this research is being done, Marley recycles any offcuts created in the manufacturing process and partners with Waste Management New Zealand and Unitec ESRC to establish a network of 30 collection services so waste plastics can be sorted, washed, and shredded for recycling.
Marley can boast that their Calibre duct can contain up to 30% of recycled material, mostly reused from internal scrap (scrap plastic created from the manufacturing process), but when they can source it, external scrap is also used. Marley Calibre products are also 100% recyclable. With help from business partners, Marley was able to recycle an impressive 702,000kgs of plastic.
TPS (thermoplastic-sheathed) cable is an extremely common cable in New Zealand for 230V power distribution. Nexans produces approximately 60,000,000 metres of cable annually. With 100m of cable on each plastic cable spool, that’s 600,000 plastic cable spools made annually, which roughly equates to 132 tonnes of plastic each year. These plastic drums are 100% recyclable.
Nexans has started a return programme to reuse or recycle their drums, reducing the amount of plastic unnecessarily going to landfill. Nexans also produces a TPS that is Declare labelled with red list free status. This TPS is manufactured without certain chemicals and materials that adversely affect the environment. These cables feature a flame-retardant, low-smoke, zero-halogen design with a durable, lead-free sheath, reducing health risks and minimising environmental impact. This TPS is perfect for green building projects, with transparent documentation of what the TPS is made of and where it goes at the end of its life.
With a commitment to sustainability, this TPS is manufactured in Nexans’ New Plymouth plant, which has recently installed 1500 solar panels.
Fit Off – The Things You See
Ok, so still hidden in the wall, but flush boxes hold your power points and light switches (among other things) to the wall, keeping you safe. One of our suppliers, Vynco, manufactures flush boxes in New Zealand from recycled plastics. It’s a small change that can have a huge impact. Just think how many of these are in your home—every power point, every light switch grid.
Vynco is also doing their part not only where you CAN see, but also with products that help you see. In April 2024, they released a new ceiling button made from both recycled and bio-plastics. They have also committed to developing more lighting products in the future that have a greater impact on sustainability, but that is a whole other post.
As with all products, packaging plays a major role in sustainability. Many suppliers have recognised this and have addressed excess plastic waste by providing more products in recycled and recyclable materials, mostly paper and cardboard. This is a simple consideration we make when choosing products, although we still ensure they are a suitable solution for your project.
The Crux? It Comes Down to 5 Key Principles:
- Reject: Refuse to use wasteful products.
- Reduce: Ensure not to design with excess.
- Reuse: If and where safe, reuse existing products.
- Repair: Fix products where possible. Also, specify products that can be repaired or maintained through their lifespan rather than wasted.
- Recycle: We will arrange for environmentally friendly disposal of associated products and packaging.
Book us in to find out more: From pre-wire to fit off, Roundhouse Electrical looks to partner with suppliers by selecting products with consideration of their environmental impact. Reducing waste, reducing consumption, while not costing the consumer any extra, maybe even saving you money. At Roundhouse Electrical, we’re about providing SOLUTIONS, not just service. So, for all electrical solutions ‘Round your House, call Roundhouse Electrical.