When disaster struck not once but twice this year, Recycled Plastic Containers Ltd owner and Driveline client Billie Kindley was left reeling.
Anniversary Weekend Floods
First came the catastrophic Auckland floods of Friday 27 January 2023, caused by an atmospheric river, which took the lives of Billie’s children’s pet sheep and destroyed all their possessions.
Even Billie’s recently deceased mother’s ashes and photos were inundated as they bobbed around the flooded shed.
“I looked through the window and I could see her ashes bobbing around on top of a sofa,” Billie recalls. “Mum once said she wanted to swim home to England and I thought, God she’ll be going out the Waitemata Harbour in a minute.”
Marriage Breakdown
If that wasn’t traumatic enough, just weeks later Billie’s husband abruptly asked for a divorce. The floods and pressure had taken their toll. Two weeks later, their dream lifestyle block in Coatesville was on the market and sold quickly despite the apparent housing downturn.
“That was only four months ago,” says Billie. “It’s still pretty raw.”
Triple Threat: Floods, Separation & Business Buyout
In the aftermath of these twin disasters, Billie considered selling Recycled Plastic Containers Ltd, the business she owned. She had lost her drive and heart for the work that had consumed six years of her life.
Doubling Down on Her Baby: The Recycling Biz
But ultimately Billie couldn’t part with her “baby” – the business she had shrewdly purchased to help fund her daughters’ school trips to America.
“I dug deep and realised she’s my girl, I love it, I’ve watched it grow,” explains Billie, who badgered the bank for a loan to buy out her ex-husband’s share of the business.
“I decided I had to buy him out… I talked hard with the bank. It was Kiwibank and I hit them over the heads with their own green image until they said yes.”
Recycling Cluster
Located next door to metal recyclers in a mini recycling cluster, Recycled Plastic Containers Ltd gives new life to old plastic drums and containers.
Billie collects large numbers of recycled plastic containers ranging in size from 5 litres to 1,000 litre Intermediate Bulk Containers (IBCs), strips the labels and meticulously cleans them, then sells them at around half the price of new containers.
An Essential Service in Lockdown
When Covid first hit, Billie watched in dismay as business ground to a halt, wondering if she’d have to shut down.
But when Billie’s customers were deemed to be essential services so was Billie’s business, because Recycled Plastic Containers Ltd was vital to keeping her customers operating.
Recycled Plastic Containers’ Covid Boost
Seemingly overnight, orders poured in for containers of all sizes to hold sanitiser, water, and other pandemic essentials.
Far from slowing down, Billie was racing around everywhere. She found herself driving over Auckland Harbour Bridge alone, the sole car on the road.
“It was like a post-apocalyptic world,” she remembers.
Although Billie managed to operate solo besides one part-timer before the pandemic, soon the ballooning orders required an extra pair of hands.
Serendipitously, Billie’s husband had been made redundant from his job, and he joined the family business full-time in 2020.
West Auckland Upbringing
A lifelong survivor and “can-do” personality, Billie grew up riding horses and attending Oratia Primary and Massey High School in West Auckland.
She later spent four years in England, where she worked her way up from salad girl at McDonald’s to being in charge of HR and running their recruitment firm.
Bay of Plenty
After returning home to raise her daughters in rural Bay of Plenty, Billie returned to Auckland with her family in search of more social opportunities for her girls.
Landing in Coatesville
The idyllic lifestyle block she and her husband purchased in Coatesville seemed like the perfect landing pad. That is, until the catastrophic floods washed those plans down the river along with all their possessions.
Wheels When She Needs Them
A key support enabling Billie to build her business in the first place, and rebuild her business and life over the past year, has been Driveline, the finance & leasing company she turned to after wrecking her car.
“I needed a new car because I had an accident. I got an airbag in the face and the car was totalled. I thought about buying one but didn’t want to use all that capital so I Googled around for lease companies and found Driveline.
“So that was my first one with Driveline. Alan Greig chatted to us and we got a Holden Captiva. I needed to tow IBCs so I needed a towing vehicle, and I got a big flat deck trailer made so I could take up to 12 IBCs at one time.”
Personal Touch
Leasing proved far more affordable than buying and the friendly, responsive service kept her returning to swap vehicles as the business grew.
“The personal touch is really good. Alan is quick on his emails, answering any frivolous questions I ask him! He always answers straight away and he knows what I need in the business too,” says Billie.
“I like Alan, he does the personal touch and he’s pretty onto it. He doesn’t leave you hanging, wondering if you’re asking the right question or being annoying. He just answers all my questions for me, beautifully.”
Leasing vs Buying: The Accountant’s Recommendation
When Billie’s aging Ford Transit van died on her, she got her accountant to analyse the benefits of leasing versus buying.
“We crunched the numbers with our accountant and they said it was better to lease than actually buy, so they said to go for it,” recalls Billie. “So Alan put a good little deal together for us on a Toyota Hiace ZX and we’ve still got that one. We call her Vanny.”
Mobile Billboard
The sign writing on her van has proved to be a boon for business too.
“I have people on the motorway going beep beep beep. They’ll wind down their window and have a chat when we’re stuck in the traffic jam going into town. I even get phone calls from people on buses that are driving past. They want to know about what we do and how we can help them with recycling in their business,” says Billie.
Swapping Vehicles Mid-Lease
Whether providing data for her accountant’s number crunching or finding vans big enough to haul 1,000 litre IBCs, Driveline has delivered.
“The Captiva was finding it difficult to tow the IBCs in and out of our steep driveway at Coatesville. So I asked Alan if I could change it out before the end of the lease. He crunched the numbers and said he could get us into a Ford Ranger for not too much difference, so that was really good.”
Swapping Again Mid-Lease
After getting her new Toyota Hiace, Billie no longer required a ute and wanted something slightly smaller, preferably an SUV. She looked around and the Ford Everest seemed to meet her needs.
“Even though I only had the Ranger for two years and I was supposed to have it for a five-year lease, he said, not a problem, we’ll change it out,” says Billie.
“You’re not held to having to have it for the full lease. It intrigued me that he was able to swing that, and he even got me a better deal on it because it was a demo. Yeah, he pushed hard for me.”
Final Words
It was because Billie found leasing to be far more affordable than buying that she first did business with Driveline. And it’s been the friendly, responsive service that’s kept her returning repeatedly to change vehicles over the years as her business needs evolved.
After a rollercoaster year, assistance has arrived from unexpected places at crucial times. With floods and splits behind her and open road ahead, this resilient recycler continues giving plastic containers a useful second life in support of the circular economy.
If you’d like to buy some recycled plastic containers for your business, or want to recycle the ones you already use, give Billie Kindley a call on 022 3656-996 or visit recycledplasticcontainers.co.nz.
