Page 100 from: May 2008
100 May 2008
In 1989, at the age of 39, Trevor Munro, now 58, left New Zealand’s military after a career
that took him all over the world. At the time,
he had no real idea of what to do with the rest
of his life.
He decided to spend some months travelling
around Europe. One day, while he was travel-
ling around Denmark, he received a New Zea-
land newspaper article from a friend which
stated that the only scrap car collection com-
pany on South Island had closed. ‘So I looked
at some scrap yards in Denmark, The Nether-
lands and some other countries and decided
it was a lucrative business,’ he recalls. ‘Once I
was back in New Zealand, I opened up a scrap
yard.’
Metalcorp NZ Ltd is now one of four metal
recycling companies in Christchurch, the
largest centre of population on New Zealand’s
South Island. In common with most of the
country’s metal recyclers, Metalcorp NZ col-
lects, processes and sells both ferrous and
non-ferrous metals. It has a workforce of 27
and runs six trucks of its own as well as
another on full-time hire.
The company sources its material from all
over island. Incoming material is sorted and
processed using a Sierra T500 shear/baler
installed last year, put in containers and then
sold mostly to Asian processors, although the
company has also engaged in bulk exports.
Several years ago, Metalcorp NZ opened up a
branch in Ashburton, also on South Island, to
help service it’s growth. This second branch
was initially managed by Trevor’s son-in-law
James, who has since then established his own
company to focus on collecting and process-
ing specialised metals and alloys.
Real family business
Metalcorp NZ is a real family business, run
by Trevor Munro with assistance from his
eldest daughter Korina, and his wife Anni
works on the administrative and financial
side of the business.
As with many family-owned recycling busi-
nesses, Korina started helping out in the com-
pany by working in the yard when still at
school. ‘I got paid very little, but that was okay
because I also did very little,’ she remembers.
But as she grew older, she learned ‘more seri-
ous things like gas torching and cutting, oper-
ating the diggers, sorting non-ferrous metals,
stripping cable wire, cleaning radiators and
all the other crappy jobs – but that was good,
because it made me learn the industry right
from the ground up’.
On leaving school, Korina went to university,
got a degree in psychology and worked for
several years as a psychologist. But even dur-
Father & Daughter
Metalcorp NZ Ltd of New Zealand is a true family business. When it
comes to making major decisions, company founder Trevor Munro
and his daughter Korina strive to reach agreement on the course of
action to take – and then Trevor asks his wife and business partner
Anni for the money….
Metalcorp NZ:
a scrap-happy family
affair
By Manfred Beck
Metalcorp NZ’s scrap yard in Christchurch,
New Zealand.
RI_058_Father&Daughter.indd 2 14-05-2008 14:03:19
