Farmers Weekly: 12,400 fence posts recycled from Cyclone Gabrielle damaged orchards and vineyards; donated to farms across Hawke's Bay

Supporting Cyclone Gabrielle relief efforts and as part of the Hawke’s Bay Silt Recovery Taskforce, Repost Fence Posts have to date recycled 12,400 fence posts from orchards and vineyards severely damaged during the cyclone.

Cyclone Gabrielle created a significant amount of damaged treated timber posts waste from horticultural and viticultural properties. While thousands of these posts have been collected since the cyclone, the Taskforce partnered with Repost in September to recycle and repurpose these posts into Sustainable Fencing to be reused in the community. 

The damaged posts are being stored at deposit sites Moteo Pa and Pakowhai, which is where Repost are working to divert as many treated timber posts as possible from landfill and back into a useful resource. The fit for purpose recycled posts were until recently holding up vines and trees across the region.

Repost work to repurpose the posts by grading them, removing nails, clips and plastic, cutting them to size and then bundling them up ready for farmers' fence lines. The posts include full, quarter, half and strainer posts of 1.6,1.8 and 2.4m lengths.

Throughout November, with help from Federated Farmers, the 12,400 posts have been donated by the Taskforce to rural communities up and down the East Coast including Otane, Pōrangahau, Pākōwhai, Esk Valley, Tutira and Wairoa. 

Repost’s owner Greg Coppell said, “Fencing is a costly and timely process and unfortunately the cyclone took out a huge number of farming fence lines. Now the dryer months are coming, the ground will be easier for vital rebuild work to get underway. The rural community here are really struggling but we’re hoping that these donated posts will help”.

Darren de Klerk, lead of the Silt Recovery and Waste Taskforce said of the project, “While thousands of horticultural and viticultural posts have been collected since the cyclone, the Taskforce’s partnership with Repost has given us the ability to repurpose these posts into Sustainable Fencing to be reused in the community here.  

“It’s great to see the amount of useful wood we’ve been able to redirect from landfill. Typically with Repost, it costs $4.50 per post to repurpose based on 1,000 posts per day, significantly cheaper than the estimated $19 to dispose one post at landfill.”.

 Repost’s donation of 12,400 recycled fence posts for use on farms pummelled by Cyclone Gabrielle is a “fantastic demonstration of support”, Federated Farmers Hawke’s Bay president Jim Galloway says.

“That’s enough posts for restoring 40 to 50 kilometres of fenceline by the Farmy Army and others, and that work is crucial for farm operations.”

For the health and safety of humans and animals, the priority is boundary fences, to keep stock off roads, Jim says. But fences keeping stock out of waterways and internal farm fences were also destroyed in the cyclone.  

“When internal fences are down, a farmer’s ability to efficiently manage feed and stock movement is also undermined,” Jim says.

 Farmers will appreciate that Repost fence posts have been recycled from orchards and vineyards. “Farmers are environmentally minded and don’t like to see anything wasted. This is a great re-use of a resource that has outlived another purpose. “We’re grateful for the support.”  

Dirk Walden, who runs sheep and beef at Maraetotara, is also grateful for donated Repost fences. The bundles of posts from Repost “was amazing, and I’m grateful”, he says. 

For further information please contact gabby@repost.co.nz 022 090 7377

Notes to Editors

The Hawke’s Bay Silt Recovery Taskforce is a collaboration between Hawke’s Bay Regional Council and Hastings District Council.

Repost (www.repost.co.nz) are a sustainable recycling waste solution for broken vineyard and orchard CCA treated timber waste posts and started in Marlborough. The portable service repurposes wooden posts and has created a new low-cost fence post market for the rural sector, at a time when the rural community needs innovative solutions and low-cost resources. Fence posts start at $3.25, a 1/3 of the price of most new posts.

Repost have to date saved 5,052 tonnes from landfill in Marlborough and are hoping to do the same in Hawke’s Bay. They have also supported farmers nationwide to fence over 4,175km of fence lines.