Abby Lowe, 16, Charlotte Boyce,, and Jessamy Roadley, both 17, are year 12 and 13 students who are part of the school’s business class where they take part in the Young Enterpise Scheme.

As part of their studies they have had to develop a business plan, and have become the founders of Hangarua (to recycle) Collective.

The group originally thought about making necklaces out of the mask waste, but “thankfully” a teacher pushed them to “dream bigger”, Boyce said.

The idea for turning the mask waste into planter boxes came from wanting to aid in creating a ‘’circular economy’’ and make the project focus on sustainability.

“We are asking the community for help in providing the masks, so we wanted to create a product that could then be used to help the community and so that is how the planter boxes idea came up,” Roadley said.

When brainstorming the design of the product, the group decided to make the product, even more, user-friendly they would make the planter box size customisable.

It is estimated that each corner piece of the box will contain almost 200 masks.

“You could have a 10-metre-long planter box if you wanted, I don’t know why anyone might need a 10-metre-long planter box, but it’s an option,” Boyce said.

The group has 3D-designed corner parts of the box which are in the process of being 3D printed, so they can have a prototype model ready for their presentation.

With meticulous research and networking the business is working with University of Canterbury professor Hossein Najaf Zadeh who has been able to turn the student's dream into a reality.

Zadeh, has a background in engineering and 3D printing technology, and is a lecturer at the university.

Read more here.

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