ROTORUA 14.03.13: Rotorua District Council and Scion have appointed four directors to the board of new joint-venture company Terax Ltd.

The jointly-owned company’s prime objectives are to protect and enhance recently developed TERAX waste technology and to optimise its commercial potential through licencing arrangements with other potential users.

The council has appointed two directors to the board, Dr Ian Boddy and Don Atkinson.

Hamilton-based Dr Boddy is a member of the New Zealand Institute of Directors and a consultant in technology and innovative space, working with universities, Crown Research Institutes, industry bodies and accounting firms. He is a director of US plant bio-technology company Phytagro LLC and was previously chairman of AgResearch subsidiary Grasslanz Technologies which won the 2010 NZ Business Award for Best Commercialisation of IP in International Business.

Dr Boddy has also held directorships of a number of other businesses including ParaCo Technology, Encoate Holdings, Orico Ltd and Com One Ltd.

Don Atkinson is the owner of private company Airflo Holdings Ltd which has substantial commercial investments in Rotorua and elsewhere in New Zealand, and manages a life care village in Whakatane. He was the founding chairman of EastPack Ltd and remained in that role for 26 years while EastPack grew to become the second largest Kiwifruit post-harvest facility in the country with turnover of $50 million. He has also held positions as chairman of both Southern Kiwi and Southlink, as a councillor on the NZ Kiwifruit Advisory Council and as a director of ENZA Cool Ltd.

Mr Atkinson has been involved in a voluntary capacity with Rotorua’s Lake Water Quality Society, for more than a decade.

The two directors appointed to the board of Terax Ltd by Scion are Judith Stanway and Dr Russell Burton.

A qualified Rotorua-based accountant, Judith Stanway is the Managing Partner of BDO Rotorua Ltd and until recently was the Chair of BDO New Zealand Ltd, a New Zealand-wide chartered accountancy and business advisory firm. Mrs Stanway is a Fellow of the NZ Institute of Directors and a director of Scion, Te Papa Tipu Properties Ltd and a number of private companies. She has also chaired the Lakes District Health Board and been a director of Te Puia.  

Dr Burton is Scion’s General Manager of Research and Investments. With over 30 years involvement in the science sector, his role has varied from research, research management to commercialisation of technologies. He has had a key role in development of a number of Scion’s spin-out companies including Greenweld Technologies Ltd and Wood Hardening Technologies Ltd.  

Dr Burton is currently Chair of Health Rotorua, a director of the Biopolymer Network Ltd, a Fellow of the Institute of Professional Engineers New Zealand and the Institution of Chemical Engineers United Kingdom, and a member of the New Zealand Institute of Directors.

Rotorua Mayor Kevin Winters said the four directors brought very impressive credentials to the development of what is a ground-breaking world-first waste technology programme.  

“This technology will have a major impact on how New Zealand cities and primary industries deal with organic waste in the future.  Additionally it has the potential to be a source of income from the generation of industrial chemicals that can be used for fertilisers and other biomaterials.”

Scion CEO Warren Parker said the commercial scale demonstration plant in Rotorua will put TERAX in the spotlight across the country and overseas. He said it has already attracted the interest of many New Zealand local authorities and it was hoped TERAX could be made available to New Zealand councils on preferential terms.

“If TERAX is picked up by other councils nationwide it is estimated that somewhere around two millions tonnes of biodegradable waste could be treated every year,” said Dr Parker.

Mr Winters recently received confirmation from the Ministry for the Environment that Rotorua District Council had been awarded a grant of $4.7 million to build a world-leading waste treatment plant turning sewage into valuable resources.

The plant will use the advanced technology TERAX to convert sewage sludge into useful products. TERAX was developed by a Scion research team led by Trevor Stuthridge, the crown research institute’s General Manager Sustainable Design.  It will be built to commercial scale as a demonstration model at the Rotorua’s waste water treatment facility next year.

The newly appointed directors of Terax Ltd will take on the key role of commercialisation of TERAX technology for the company’s joint shareholders, Scion and Rotorua District Council.