Metals New Zealand has taken over the portfolio of the Sustainable Steel Council, which was founded in 2009 to promote steel as a sustainable material. The Council was previously operated by a board representing a range of stakeholders such as HERA, Steel Construction NZ, University of Auckland along with major steel producers and manufacturing associations. […]
Metals New Zealand has taken over the portfolio of the Sustainable Steel Council, which was founded in 2009 to promote steel as a sustainable material.
The Council was previously operated by a board representing a range of stakeholders such as HERA, Steel Construction NZ, University of Auckland along with major steel producers and manufacturing associations.
Other members include the coatings industry, supply chain distributors, contractors and builders, and research and development organisations.
“Most of the initial objectives of the SSC have been met, with the next phase of work around sustainability not planned yet. With not a lot of forward momentum happening it was decided the time was right to bring the Council under the umbrella of Metals New Zealand, which is already working on sustainability across a range of metals.”
Gary is happy to take on the portfolio, and believes Metals New Zealand is the best new home for SSC as its broadens its perspective from being product based, to promoting sustainability across the entire steel sector.
“Sustainability is now more relevant in the marketing, business and corporate social responsibility areas rather than the technical space, which is why the Council didn’t really sit as a HERA priority any more.”
Along with its research into central and local government procurement, Metals New Zealand is also try to work out where the construction and manufacturing sectors are at in terms of compliance, says Gary.
“Once we have gathered the information we need we’ll start to plan what direction phase two of the Sustainable Steel Council’s work should take.”
Gary says sustainability needs to become a priority again across the steel sector
“It is disappointing things have come to a bit of a halt. Hopefully once we formulate what the industry players intend to do we can reinvigorate market demand. As an industry body we can do a lot of work, but I wouldn’t like to see that go to waste due to it not being valued by members of the Council.”
Metals New Zealand provides an advocacy service for around 750 member companies, representing some 29,000 employees in the metals industry.
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