MTA's Bumper Summit Needs You

Now MTA’s calling on all of industry to be part of an MTA summit to find and make ways of bumper re-purposing viable and effective.

There’s an average of around 115,000 new and used bumpers being replaced annually at an average of 3.5 kilograms per bumper, 440 tonnes of plastic bumper waste are sent to landfills every year.

Industry stakeholders have a moral responsibility to future generation in get behind MTA in solving the problem.

Currently, there is an Auckland-based recycling company that is still taking plastic bumpers and waste steel from collision workshops. They service around 26 Auckland workshops, and when I spoke to them, they told me that they have been stockpiling the bumpers since 2020 and it is quite a pile.

MTA has already reached out to some vehicle manufactures, importers and a few insurance companies who are supporting the initiative, while other big players haven’t bothered to return our communication or calls.

MTA has already done some of the heavy lifting to source a solution, and we have found one, but we need industry to take it to the next level and launch a nation-wide bumper recycling program.

We need industry to work with us on big challenges to get the programme off the ground rather than buried in the ground.

The main challenge being the cost to recycle, or re-purpose plastic parts and we are calling on all who are part of the plastic bumper problem to be proactive in helping to secure a solution.

It took over a decade to organise a solution to waste tyres and the industry needs to be part of this future solution and assist MTA in protecting our environment.

If you want to support leading the change to divert plastic vehicle waste away from landfill, then you should attend the Auckland MTA bumper re-purposing workshop summit, in June 2024.

Contact Larry Fallowfield, MTA sector manager and to ensure you are a part of the long-term solution.