Filimone and 'Ofa Tu'ikolovatu of  Gio Recycling at Fasi, Nuku'alofa. 18 December 2012.

Thousands of old car bodies stockpiled in Nuku'alofa's Pili Quarry will be crushed and baled for export over the next month, thanks to an initiative by a Tongan businesswoman, 'Ofa Tu'ikolovatu and her husband, whose recycling company has hired a $4 million crushing and baling machine and shipped it to Tonga for the work.

'Ofa who has been collecting and stripping old vehicles for many years expects to export 60 containers of scrap metals to New Zealand soon.

"A lot of people look at waste and put it at the lowest in a hierarchy. But if you put a dollar sign on it, it's far better to trade and send it overseas than keeping it in Tonga, because not only does it contribute to the local economy but it cleans-up Tonga and provides employment to people we hire," she said.

'Ofa and her husband Filimone own the Gio Recycling at Fasi and employ eight workers in Tongatapu and four in Vava'u.

In the past they have had to cut vehicles by hand, using welding and cutting tools. "It was hard labour but now with the baler we can just throw in the whole car and that is it," she said.

'Ofa said they had collected over 3,000 abandoned vehicles in Tonga over the past five to 10 years at their own expense. Most of the cars stored at the Pili Quarry had been stripped, "so we will have a total clean up at Pili," 'Ofa  said.

"We knew one day we would make enough car collection to get a baler in and we did. We obviously could not fork up $4 million to buy it so we hired it," she said.

'Ofa said she had developed a strong business relationship with recycling companies in New Zealand and she convinced one of them, CMA Recycling, to allow her to lease their baler for a few weeks and to ship the 21 tonne machine to Tonga.

Brent Howlett the general manager from CMA Recycling of Onehunga, was in Tonga this week to help get the baler operational at the Gio Recycling's Fasi premises.

"This baler is the first for Tonga. We had our vision that one day this baler will be in Tonga and now we have it, we will utilize it wisely," said 'Ofa.

They have leased the machine until the end of February 2013 for around $25,000 a month to crush and compact stripped vehicles for export and scrap metal sale in New Zealand. With return shipping costs on top of that, it represents a substantial investment for a local company, but 'Ofa is confident that her venture will be successful.

"Although the price of steel has really dropped, but what else around the world has not? We are adamant that we can move all our scrap and have a new start. It's a dream worth waiting for," she said.

"Each 20ft container can hold 17 crushed cars plus other small bales of metals to a maximum weight of 25 tonnes. We will strip all cars to make sure no sponges, no leathers, and no fuel tanks are being crushed before we will give it our best effort."

'Ofa estimated that their first 10 containers will be shipped out before the end of the year and the rest will follow in January and February 2013 and the company will hire extra helping hands to achieve their export target.

Abandoned vehicles

She anticipated in the next three years when they had collected more unused cars they might bring the machine back to Tonga.

"Let's make Tonga clean and we look forward to clearing out all our collection of unused cars and make a fresh start and open our mind for new opportunities," she said.

MBA

'Ofa a 48-year-old mother of four, has just completed a Masters in Business program at the University of the South Pacific Tonga campus and will graduate in May 2013. She plans to continue studying for a doctorate in solid waste management.

Before getting into recycling 'Ofa had previously worked for the former national airline Royal Tongan Airlines for 15 years as a coordinator for international and domestic flights, managing capacity control. She said when the airline went down her husband was already running the recycling business so she joined him.

"If it wasn't for my airline background and running my business I would not have done well in my master's program. Strategically, I came out of the MBA program with a better idea and clearer focus on business," she said.

"I want to say to the women in Tonga if I can do it, you can do it!" she said.