AUSTRALIAN DISTRIBUTOR FOR ENVIRE
19 February 2014
Christie Parksafe is proud to announce its appointment as the Australian distributor for Envire Park Products.
Christie believes Envire is the ideal partner for their state-of-the-art range of park barbecue systems. The philosophies and values of both companies are perfectly aligned and the histories follow a similar path. Christie believes Envire is an important step forward in recycling plastics worldwide.
Integrated Recycling created ENVIRE in the Sunraysia district of northern Victoria. The district is Australia's largest producer of table grapes and every summer the vines are covered in plastic to protect the grapes from the rain and sun. Their idea was simple. The area under cover is vast but after a couple of seasons these enormous plastic covers reach the end of their life. They decided to recycle these covers into vine posts that, unlike the CCA treated wooden posts, wouldn't leach contaminants into the surrounding environment.
Others have mixed recycled plastics and wood pulp with poor results. IR‘s testing proved that a particular mix of plastics and importantly, long strand organic fibres, was best. Red gum off-cuts became another waste product that IR put to good use.
The ‘Envire’ recipe created a totally unique composite material that worked like wood but was strong, durable, inert and non-leaching with minimal water absorption. That made it an ideal replacement for wood in agriculture, horticulture, aquaculture and landscaping as well as a variety of industrial and everyday uses. Ironically, by recycling waste wood Envire was helping to reduce the destruction of forests.
IR collects vine covers, grain bags, suitable irrigation pipe and polystyrene from growers in the Sunraysia district. IR also takes a wide variety of polyethylene and polystyrene based plastic waste materials from industrial, transport, retail and consumer sources.
The Mildura landfill and other landfills throughout Victoria also separately stream plastics to be sent to IR for Envire products. This keeps polymers out of landfill. Recycling waste material helps IR decrease the amount of High Density, Medium Density and Low Density Polyethylene being sent to landfill.
Polystyrene is the greatest challenge of all the plastics. It’s the hardest to dispose of, but in IR’s mix it becomes another strength. It helps give Envire the texture and consistency that mimics wood. That enables IR to recycle approximately 4,000m3 of polystyrene annually; which equates to between 30 and 60 tonnes. When combined with the other consumer and industrial plastic waste that is recycled into Envire products, an ever growing total of more than 400 tonnes is saved from going into landfill each year.
Not only does the Envire process give their products an extremely long life span, when they are no longer needed, they can be recycled up to four times before there is any degradation in material quality.
Product RangeEnvire composite material is superior to wood and other plastics. Bollards, posts and poles are available in a variety of sizes. They can be drilled to fit a steel rod or chain. The surface can be routed to create messages or to receive an inlaid decorative or informative sign. They can also be used for artistic projects or decorative landscape elements within gardens, parklands, schools, wetlands, walkways, or almost anywhere.
Envire’s range of outdoor furniture includes benches, seats with backs - with or without armrests, picnic tables, and tables that cater for wheelchairs that can be bolted to a concrete slab or cemented into the ground. It’s also possible to have individual designs created for specific projects. When required, the furniture can be matched to Envire decking, fencing, garden edging and landscape products. It can even be set under a shelter designed with Envire material.
Made from recycled materials Envire is designed to be worked just like timber but will outlast and outperform timber in almost every test. Envire furniture products employ metal components to create a product that is more user-friendly than the all-metal equivalent.
Key Benefits
- Envire bollards absorb and resist impact. Wood is inflexible but Envire will flex and rebound after most impacts.
- There are no dangerous spikes. Envire bollards break clean. They don’t shatter like wood creating dangerous spikes.
- There’s no leaching. Unlike CCA treated timber, Envire products will not leach chemicals into the soil.
- It works like wood. Envire can be routed for signage, drilled, screwed and sawn.
- It’s easy to handle. Envire’s surface is smooth to touch - no splinters.
- It’s unaffected by extreme weather. Envire copes with very high and very low temperatures. Extreme climates do not affect it.
- Water adsorption is very low. Envire can be immersed in sea water indefinitely. It’s even suitable for sensitive marine environments.
- It’s UV resistant. Envire will not degrade under fierce sunlight.
- It’s white ant resistant. Envire is immune to all pests including white ant attack.
- It will never rot. Unlike wood, Envire products cannot rot.
- It comes in three solid-core colours - charcoal, green and brown - other colours are available on request.