A deserving community group or charity could soon be putting kids on the right track with the gift of a children's play train made out of recycled materials.
The inventive, upcycled creation is currently on display at the Recycle Shop, which sells upcycled and repurposed items recovered from the Waitākere Refuse and Recycling Centre.
With a 200-litre oil drum for the boiler, pots for the top of the chimney and scrap metal for the roofing, the life-size train was made from items dropped off at the centre.
The train also features an old electric heater as the headlamp and wheels made from cable drums.
Half-used tins of quality paint are a common item dropped off at the centre and sold at The Recycle Shop, so recycled paint was used to paint the train in bright blue, red and black.
If you know of a deserving community group or charity that could put the train to good use, email greenjon@mphs.org.nz.
About The Recycle Shop
Filled with homeware, books, clothes, kitchen appliances and more, The Recycle Shop is a great place to find a bargain while helping reduce waste to landfill.
“Our stock comes from two places,” explains Aaron Brunet, Retail Manager for The Recycle Shop.
“The majority is selected from the tipping floor [an area where rubbish collection trucks drop off their loads for sorting].
“A growing source of stock is direct from people's vehicles and trailers. This is a great incentive – anything we accept into the shop is effectively free to drop off as a result.”
With the help of staff and volunteers in 2016, The Recycle Shop turned 160,000kg of ‘waste’ into $350,000 worth of sales. A large amount of proceeds from the store is invested into local community projects run by McLaren Park and Henderson South Trust (MPHS), the organisation behind The Recycle Shop, including education programmes and youth empowerment work.
While bestsellers in 2016 included bikes, tools and appliances, there have also been unexpected items through the shop, including carpet tiles and even a Macbook.
“They were good-quality wool carpet tiles and the only reason they were being dumped was that the tenant of the building came to the end of their lease. The landlord required the building to be left empty of any fit-out,” says Aaron.
“This struck us as spectacularly wasteful but also a great opportunity for us. We listed them on TradeMe and sold thousands of them.
“We also recently had a five-year-old Macbook Pro laptop dropped in. Initially, it seemed that it was broken, but with a little time re-installing the operating system it worked perfectly and is now our staff laptop, and a great companion to the iMac we use on the shop counter, which also came from similar circumstances.”
Find out more
The Recycle Shop is open Tuesday to Friday 9am-4.30pm, and Saturday to Sunday 9am-4pm. You can also follow The Recycle Shop on Facebook.
Check out our other Community Recycling Centres.
