John Yates, Agcarm president

“Agrecovery is one of the most significant stewardship initiatives that Agcarm has been involved with in many years and it has been a long time in the making. I want to acknowledge the thoroughly professional way in which 3R, the programme managers, have worked with us and now deliver this programme. I also want to acknowledge the brand owners, especially those who had the courage to commit to Agrecovery from the beginning, for getting in behind this programme. It is a credit to all of us.”

Richard Church, Environmental & Quality Management System Assessor for TELARC SAI

“We find that very rarely do organisations come through an initial audit with no conditions having been raised and even more rarely that we aren’t in a position to report Recommendations / Opportunities.

This is a testament to the work you have put into developing your environmental management systems but also that this really does reflect the way in which you operate.”

Rick Cranswick, Judge of the Hawkes Bay Chamber of Commerce Business Awards 2008

Convenor of judges Rick Cranswick said 3R Group was a stand out local company with a huge vision.

“Built on quality and rigorous systems with comprehensive manuals and procedures 3R is an excellent example of business success.

“It uses creative targeted marketing processes to reach the supplier, distributor, purchaser and end user.

“Their business model allows competitors to work together collaboratively and its planning goes from a strategic level right through to individual action lists – 3R knows where it’s going and staff are also living the company’s vision.

"3R Group Ltd is a tall poppy-  it has both the WOW factor and a solid, sustainable business approach.   For the judges 3R has stood out across every aspect of its business operation – for its strategic direction, planning, implementation and performance.

This business is an ‘influencer’ right to government level.  They are already leaders in their field and their expertise is recognised nationwide and increasingly internationally.

Not only does the 3R Group do great work, they have achieved outstanding business results by providing solutions to one of the largest growing environmental issues industry faces today.     A worthy Supreme Business Award winner."

"A home grown Hawke’s Bay company with a huge vision, 3R has become a market leader in design, development and implementation of product stewardship programmes.

It creates solutions for industries to take responsibility for the environmental impact and recovery of products they produce and use.

In four short years 3R has established two nationwide product stewardship programmes – the Resene Paintwise take back programme, and the Agrecovery rural recycling programme of plastic agrichemical containers.

Built on quality and rigorous systems with comprehensive manuals and procedures 3R is an excellent example of business success.  It uses creative targeted marketing processes to reach the supplier, distributor, purchaser and end user. Their business model allows competitors to work together collaboratively and its planning goes from a strategic level right through to individual action lists – 3R knows where it’s going and staff are also living the company’s vision."

Karen Warman, Marketing Manager from Resene

"While Resene came up with the idea for PaintWise in 1999, 3R joined us in 2004 for a 6 month trial period at a store on the North Shore. They joined us for every trial day and at the end we had a debrief to figure out what the future of the service would be.· In 2005 we rolled out permanently with 3R’s help and today they manage the backend of the system.· Which means they manage the store to store picks ups, they manage the drivers, the trucks and the also manage delivery to the end markets as well.

We’ve worked with 3R now since 2004 and they have been very professional to deal with the whole way through.· Resene is quite a demanding customer.· We have very firm ideas about what we want to achieve and they have been able to deliver that for us. That has included sitting down to discussions about what we want to achieve.· They have gone to other customers and new industry partners to get us the results we require.”

Len McSaveney, Market Development Manager, Golden Bay Cement

“PaintCrete is an exciting new development that makes use of waste paint into concrete.· It solves many of the problems we have in high performance concrete in a very economical way and the potential is enormous.· The product came about through 3R approaching Golden Bay Cement and saying we’ve got this waste paint and can you use it.·· From my experience in the concrete industry I knew that many of the high price mortars and grouts contain acrylic and latex polymers to improve their properties, so I felt we were on to a winner with waste paint.· We just needed to prove it in scientific terms and that’s where Auckland University came into it.· 3R has been the key to the whole PaintCrete relationship.· They got it started, they collect the paint, they ensure quality and deliver that to the concrete operations and without that backing behind it, PaintCrete just wouldn’t work.”

Trevor Mallard, Minister for the Environment (2007-2008)

Green Ribbon award quote…..”The Green Ribbon awards are an opportunity for me to acknowledge the outstanding contributions these New Zealanders are making to sustaining, protecting and enhancing our environment. This years winners are role models for us all to respect. They inspire, empower and support others to also help care for our environment”.

And again in our 2008 annual report……..” Congratulations to Agrecovery and their programme managers on a successful first year of operation. I am well aware of the difficulties faced in setting up a product stewardship scheme. It takes determination and vision to succeed. Agrecovery’s broad support, national coverage and strong growth show that these difficulties should not stop us aiming high. Agrecovery is meeting the needs of its customers and recognising the importance of a clean-green environment for the agriculture industry and New Zealand as a whole”

Richard Kempthorne, Agrecovery Foundation Chairman (2005-2008)

“The managers of the Agrecovery programme, 3R, are working extremely hard to meet and exceed everyones expectations. They run a very professional programme and the Agrecovery Foundation rely heavily on their expertise. I wish to thank the directors and staff at 3R for their energetic and positive management”.

“3R worked really hard to create a viable programme for ALL stakeholders.· Their commitment is to be applauded.· 3R have been absolutely critical in enabling the Foundation to begin to implement a nationwide container recycling scheme”