New Zealand company Kayasand, which distributes sand manufacturing technology used to make concrete, has secured a major deal to install the more “environmentally friendly” technology in Australia.
The Waikato-based company takes quarry waste products including recycled glass, concrete and slag, and turns it into premium sand which could then be used for concrete.
Natural sand supplies were becoming harder to access, and traditional concrete manufacturing processes including sand dredging had long been opposed by environmental groups, particularly off the coastline of Pakiri in north Auckland.
In 2023, the company received a $3.5 million equity investment, and has now sold one of its plants to the Australian business running a large quarry in New South Wales.
Bram Smith from Kayasand said there was ‘substantial demand” for a more environmentally friendly option, and a surge of new interest in Australia and New Zealand over the past year.
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“If you look around many of the main centres in Australia and New Zealand there’s growing challenges around the availability of natural sand for concrete.
“And so what we’re doing here is providing a system that quarries can use to produce premium concrete sand that will replace the need for natural sand, and concrete, if need be.”
Smith said their deal was a sign the market was moving towards engineered sand.
Community groups including Bream Bay Guardian Society, Mangawhai Harbour Restoration Society and local iwi and hapu have long been opposed to the dredging of natural sand from off the coast north of Auckland.
Malcom Morrison from Bream Bay Guardians Society welcomed the news of an alternative.
“I think it’s great that there’s more companies making more sand rather than mining it off the seabeds,” he said.
The quarry industry said only 5% of sand used in concrete in New Zealand was engineered, but it was growing in popularity overseas.
Aggregate and Quarry Association chief executive Wayne Scott said the method was used as a way to “clean up environmentally” in countries including China.
“They’re doing less river extraction and more manufactured sand,” he said.
“So it is growing throughout the world.”
