{"id":125945,"date":"2025-11-09T08:17:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T08:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/125945\/"},"modified":"2025-11-09T08:17:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T08:17:09","slug":"on-the-up-kerikeri-couple-launch-ecojunk-to-tackle-northlands-waste-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/125945\/","title":{"rendered":"On The Up: Kerikeri couple launch EcoJunk to tackle Northland\u2019s waste problem"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe needed to fill in gaps because our exterior coating business is weather dependent. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe started looking for a business that won\u2019t fail. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the boring businesses like car washes, vending machines, and laundromats that work the best. <\/p>\n

\u201cEcoJunk is solving a problem.\u201d <\/p>\n

Nixon started the waste management company in October and has already had enquiries from property managers who have had tenants leave rentals, and all their junk, behind. <\/p>\n

\"EcoJunkEcoJunk is a Kerikeri, family-run, junk removal service which collects unwanted household items, furniture, appliances, and general clutter.<\/p>\n

The business also benefits people downsizing, moving office, clearing out deceased estates, or spring cleaning. <\/p>\n

Nixon donates good quality items to several charity op shops around town, takes some stuff to recycling stations, drops off scrap metal at scrap metal yards, and up-cycles and resells items worth salvaging. <\/p>\n

He said the service is great for those without trailers and towbars, and people who don\u2019t want the hassle and expense of hiring a skip. <\/p>\n

Many people don\u2019t want to sell items on Facebook Marketplace anymore \u201cbecause of the danger\u201d of inviting strangers to your home and the potential for payment and phishing scams, he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cNot everyone has a towbar and a trailer. <\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, it gives people back their space. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople can park their cars in the carport or garage again.\u201d <\/p>\n

Nixon said fly-tipping \u2013 illegally dumping waste – was a \u201cserious issue\u201d in the Far North. <\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the Northern Advocate reported <\/a>the Far North District Council [FNDC] collects about 1351.5 cubic metres of illegally dumped waste a year, costing ratepayers $116,000 annually. <\/p>\n

The council adopted the Solid Waste Strategy 2025\u20132050 and Waste Management and Minimisation Plan 2025\u20132031 to make it easier to manage trash and recycling. <\/p>\n

However, the council does not provide kerbside recycling <\/a>or waste collection services. <\/p>\n

Since Northland Waste took over the independent contract in August, it now costs $91 a year, $53 for six months, or $9.20 per month for kerbside recycling. <\/p>\n

Jenny Ling is a senior journalist at the Northern Advocate. She has a special interest in covering human interest stories, along with finance, roading, and social issues. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe needed to fill in gaps because our exterior coating business is weather dependent. \u201cWe started looking for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125946,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1443,1863,8414,87608,2036,14154,61493,296,56387,87610,5511,16571,3331,111,43,139,87609,1067,24926,69,90,21041,21311,28875,392,40865,223,165,2846,61,34355,58228,25809,810,12806,14638,25361],"class_list":["post-125945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-about","tag-back","tag-couple","tag-ecojunk","tag-entrepreneur","tag-give","tag-heath","tag-into","tag-isnt","tag-junk","tag-just","tag-kerikeri","tag-launch","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nixons","tag-northland","tag-northlands","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-peoples","tag-problem","tag-remove","tag-space","tag-tackle","tag-the","tag-their","tag-them","tag-to","tag-trash","tag-treasure","tag-turning","tag-up","tag-venture","tag-wants","tag-waste"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}