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For the last few years, a team, supported by IDEA Services, has picked up old household goods. They are then sold sell to a scrap metal works company.
There’s an old saying that one man’s trash is another’s treasure – and the Metal Works vocational programme in Whangarei is living proof of that.
For the last three years, the team, and their IDEA Services support workers, has picked up old bits of household goods containing valuable metals which are then sold to a scrap metal works company.
IDEA Services Area Manager Sally Hume says everyone is most proud of “working as a team.
“The biggest things we have picked up would be big pipes from a water treatment station and double fridges,” Sally says.
The group has also learned to pick up dumped whiteware from the roadside, lift and load it safely, how to deal with the public, and how to identify different metal types.
Sally says people they deal with are friendly and appreciative – and as a bonus, the team often gets free ice cream or hot chips.
Everyone also loves having their own uniform, which keeps the team safe and looking professional.
The programme is all about helping people and giving back to the community, picking up old whiteware from the elderly or others who have no way of getting rid of it.
As well as giving everyone the satisfaction of a job well done.