Economate

economate is a fresh, new initiative and nfp that facilitates the diversion of construction waste to education institutes and community organisation projects. established in 2016 by katy and nick cottrell it aims to utilise the inherent value in waste through art and technology. our story began when katy, a technology teacher noticed the irony in buying raw timber from tight school budgets for students to use in ncea sustainability projects. on contacting local construction companies she found they were throwing away perfectly good preconsumer waste. this led to a relationship between onslow college and local companies ladd joinery and friday homes. less than two years on and our economates include providers of plastic, timber, melamine coated mdf and users include predator free wellington, zealandia and onslow college. outcomes using diverted waste have included chairs, tables, shelving units, side units, animal tracking boxes, kaka nest boxes, weta 'hotels', artwork. our visio