3R Group

What 3R Group does

3R Group Limited is a privately held New Zealand sustainability services consultancy headquartered in Hastings, Hawke's Bay, founded in 2004 by Graeme Norton and Bruce Emerson. The firm designs, implements, and manages product stewardship schemes and provides hazardous waste management, waste assessment, and circular economy consulting to manufacturers, brand owners, importers, industry groups, local councils, and agricultural operations across Aotearoa New Zealand. Its portfolio spans voluntary and regulated stewardship programmes including Tyrewise (NZ's first regulated product stewardship scheme, operationalized in 2024), Resene PaintWise, SeatSmart, ChemCollect, MyHazWaste, Agrecovery, Rebound Mattress Recycling, Lubricant Container Stewardship, and the Glass Packaging Forum, delivered through a proprietary Sustainable Futures Accelerator methodology (Illuminate, Validate, Collaborate, Activate, Innovate).

The company is not a technology firm; its core capabilities are specialized domain expertise, ISO-certified management systems (ISO 14001:2015, ISO 45001:2018, CEMARS), and scheme management infrastructure including a Hastings headquarters and an Auckland depot for hazardous waste logistics. It maintains an Auckland regional depot in Papakura for operations support and runs a team of 'Reimagineers' led by Chief Executive Adele Rose with Independent Board Chair Liz Read.

3R Group earns revenue primarily through professional services fees and managed services engagements on a custom, quote-based pricing model. Services include project-based scheme design and ongoing scheme management (e.g., 12-year Resene PaintWise engagement), scheduled and on-demand chemical collection (ChemCollect), community hazardous waste events for councils (MyHazWaste), waste audits, and sustainability project consulting. Go-to-market is consultative and sales-led, leveraging thought leadership content, case studies, industry events, and partnerships with bodies such as WasteMINZ, the Sustainable Business Council, and the Sustainable Business Network. Revenue is not publicly disclosed, and the firm is funded through founder ownership, ongoing operational cash flow, and small R&D grants from Callaghan Innovation (NZD ~3,000–12,000 per year between 2020 and 2024).

Name

3R Group

Legal name

3R Group Limited

Website

https://3r.co.nz

Company type

Private

Founded year

2004

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

3R Group Limited is a New Zealand sustainability consultancy that designs, implements, and manages product stewardship schemes and delivers hazardous waste, waste assessment, and circular economy services to manufacturers, industry groups, councils, and agricultural clients across Aotearoa.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Environmental and Sustainability Services

NAICS

Hazardous Waste Collection (562112), Environmental Consulting Services (541620), Waste Management and Remediation Services (562)

SIC

Hazardous Waste Management (4955), Sanitary Services (4950)

akta.pro primary industry

Circularity Consulting & Program Management (EPR, Design-for-Circularity, LCA) (EUAIANAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Waste & Hazardous Materials Management (incl. HazMat) (BPAHAJAK), Packaging Recovery & Closed-Loop Programs (Take-Back, Deposit-Return, EPR Support) (IMALAMAF)

Keywords

• Product stewardship services
• Hazardous waste management
• Circular economy consulting
• Waste assessment services
• Sustainability consulting

Headquarters

HQ city

Hastings

HQ country

New Zealand

HQ region

Oceania

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Product Stewardship Scheme Design and Management: 3R Group provides end-to-end product stewardship services including scheme co-design, implementation, and ongoing management. This includes regulatory compliance support, stakeholder engagement, and governance structure development for both voluntary and regulated product stewardship schemes.
2. Hazardous Waste Collection and Disposal Services: ChemCollect and MyHazWaste services provide chemical collection, treatment, and disposal. Services are tailored to client needs with options for one-off or scheduled collections. Pricing is quote-based, customized to volume, location, and budget requirements.
3. Waste Assessment Services: Professional waste audit services including on-site assessments, analysis, reporting, and identification of waste reduction opportunities. Supports organizations in setting sustainability targets and moving toward circular economy principles.
4. Sustainability Consulting and Project Support: Expert advisory services for sustainability strategy, assessments, implementation support, and ongoing sustainability project management. Can serve as dedicated sustainability expertise for businesses lacking in-house capability.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

3R Group delivers sustainability services to New Zealand producers, importers, brand owners, councils, industry groups and growers, encompassing product stewardship scheme co-design, implementation and ongoing management; hazardous waste collection and disposal through ChemCollect (commercial) and MyHazWaste (community events); on-site waste audits and assessments; circular economy and sustainability consulting; and managed stewardship programs including Tyrewise, PaintWise, RE:Paint, SeatSmart, Agrecovery and the Glass Packaging Forum. Work is delivered through the company's Sustainable Futures Accelerator methodology and is priced via custom quotes keyed to scope, volume, and location.

Product overview

3R Group is a sustainability services company offering a portfolio of core services including Product Stewardship (scheme design and implementation for voluntary and regulated programs), Sustainability Projects (expert consulting for sustainability initiatives), Waste Assessment (quantification and analysis for baseline setting), Hazardous Waste Management (ChemCollect commercial collections and MyHazWaste community events), Circular Economy Solutions, and Compliance and Certification support. The company also operates or manages several named product stewardship programs: Tyrewise (NZ's first regulated product stewardship scheme for tyres), SeatSmart (child car seat recycling), Resene PaintWise (paint and packaging stewardship), RE:Paint (recycled paint initiative), Agrecovery (agricultural chemicals stewardship), Rebound Mattress Recycling, Lubricant Container Stewardship, and Glass Packaging Forum. These programs are delivered under the company's Sustainable Futures Accelerator framework.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ChemCollect: Chemical collection and disposal service for hazardous waste, including collection, treatment, disposal, and required reporting.
• MyHazWaste
• SeatSmart
• Tyrewise
• RE:Paint
• PaintWise

Products and services

• Product Stewardship Services End-to-end product stewardship scheme co-design, implementation and ongoing management for NZ businesses, including scheme governance, stakeholder coordination, accreditation support with the Ministry for the Environment and regulatory compliance for both voluntary and regulated schemes under the Waste Minimisation Act.
• ChemCollect Chemical collection and disposal service for industrial, agricultural and commercial hazardous waste, providing scheduled regional collections, on-demand commercial pickups, treatment and disposal, and compliance reporting aligned with obligations including the Stockholm Convention.
• MyHazWaste Community hazardous-waste collection event service for councils and community organisations, providing event management, resident registration, collection, treatment and disposal of household chemicals so communities can dispose of hazardous waste safely.
• Waste Assessment Quantification and analysis of business waste across product or service lifecycles, including on-site waste audits, reporting and identification of waste-reduction opportunities to set baselines and support circular-economy targets.
• Sustainability Projects Expert sustainability consulting and implementation support for businesses at any stage of their sustainability journey, from strategy development through to execution and ongoing project management.
• Sustainable Futures Accelerator Structured five-stage sustainability assessment and planning process (Illuminate, Validate, Collaborate, Activate, Innovate) that helps organisations evaluate their current sustainability position and accelerate progress toward circular-economy goals.
• Circular Economy Solutions Strategic consulting helping businesses transition from linear to circular economic models in order to reduce environmental footprint and gain market access through circular design and operations.
• Tyrewise New Zealand's first regulated product stewardship scheme for end-of-life tyres, providing nationwide collection and recycling infrastructure for used tyres under the Waste Minimisation Act; project-managed by 3R Group.
• SeatSmart National child car seat recycling programme providing consumers with a user-pays nationwide recycling option for damaged or expired child car seats (over 6,000 seats collected for recycling).
• Resene PaintWise Paint and packaging stewardship scheme operated by 3R Group in partnership with Resene, recovering unused paint and containers from consumers for responsible recycling, reuse and innovation in recovered-product markets (managed for 12 years).
• RE:Paint Initiative that creates high-value commercial use for paint recovered through the PaintWise product stewardship scheme, developed by 3R Group in partnership with Resene.
• Agrecovery Product stewardship solution for agricultural chemicals and their containers, providing responsible and sustainable nationwide disposal options for rural New Zealand through 3R Group's stewardship programme work.

Quantifiable outcome

• Managed Tyrewise scheme expected to divert significant volumes of end-of-life tyres from landfill
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Circular Economy AcceleratorcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner3R Group joined as Foundation Partners of the Circular Economy Accelerator in 2017, supporting the acceleration of New Zealand's circular economy transition. This partnership reflects the company's commitment to being part of the future economy focused on resource efficiency.
• WasteMINZcoreOthersMember of WasteMINZ, the largest representative body of the waste and resource recovery sector in New Zealand. 3R actively participates in conferences and industry initiatives through this membership.
• Sustainable Business CouncilcoreOthersMember of the Sustainable Business Council. 3R submits annual Sustainable Development Reports to the council for review and participates in industry initiatives.
• Sustainable Business NetworkcoreOthersMember of Sustainable Business Network. 3R is an active participant in events and awards programs, having sponsored the NZI Sustainable Business Network Awards and various network events.
• Life Cycle Association of New ZealandminorOthersMember organization supporting life cycle thinking and assessment in New Zealand.
• New Zealand Green Building CouncilminorOthersMember organization supporting sustainable building practices in New Zealand.
• Million Metres StreamsminorStrategic or Co-development Partner3R Group donates $200 for every tonne of materials collected by ChemCollect to the Million Metres Streams Project, supporting riparian planting and stream restoration. Partnership has funded tree planting at Brookby Project and other locations.
• House of ScienceminorStrategic or Co-development Partner3R sponsors science kits for House of Science programme raising science literacy in primary and intermediate schools in Hawke's Bay.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights8 records

Broad incumbents

• Sphera (formerly thinkstep): Global provider of ESG, EHS and product-stewardship software and consulting, including LCA and EPR solutions used by global manufacturers. Adjacent to 3R's sustainability consulting and circular-economy advisory work but software-led rather than services-led.
• GHD: Global engineering, environmental and sustainability consultancy with significant Australasian operations covering EHS compliance, waste management and circular economy advisory. Comparable capability set to 3R but delivered as part of a multi-disciplinary global firm.
• Beca Group: Major Australasian engineering and advisory consultancy with a sustainability practice covering waste, resource recovery and circular economy work for NZ corporate and government clients. Overlaps with 3R on advisory services but competes across a much wider professional services portfolio.
• WSP New Zealand: Global professional services firm with a substantial NZ environment and sustainability team providing EHS consulting, waste advisory and circular-economy strategy to large enterprise and government clients. Competes with 3R for corporate sustainability mandates but operates as part of a global firm.

Others

• WasteMINZ: New Zealand's largest representative body for the waste and resource recovery sector, of which 3R Group is an active member. Not a peer in a competitive sense, but a key industry ecosystem participant that shapes the policy and networking environment in which 3R operates.

Direct peers

• EnviroNZ: New Zealand hazardous-waste and environmental services company operating ChemWaste, eDay and product stewardship-style collection programmes. Direct peer to ChemCollect/MyHazWaste and to 3R's broader product-stewardship scheme work in NZ.
• Tonkin + Taylor: New Zealand-based environmental and engineering consultancy offering waste minimisation, contaminated site, and sustainability services to corporate and government clients. Directly comparable to 3R Group in providing NZ environmental consulting and EHS-adjacent advisory work, with a broader engineering footprint.
• Ravensdown (Agrecovery Foundation): NZ fertiliser cooperative that operates the Agrecovery agricultural-chemicals stewardship programme, on which 3R Group is also a partner/contributor. Comparable practitioner in NZ regulated product stewardship and a likely ally and partial competitor for collection-network mandates.
• ERM (Environmental Resources Management): Global sustainability consulting firm serving corporations on product stewardship, EPR compliance, circular economy and EHS strategy. Closest international analogue to 3R's scheme-design and circular-economy consulting capability, though at vastly greater scale and geographic reach.

Regional players

• Cleanaway New Zealand (including Waste Management NZ): NZ's largest waste collection, transfer, recycling and disposal operator, providing hazardous waste handling and council collection services. Touches 3R's hazardous-waste and recycling operations but is asset-heavy (collection fleet, transfer stations) versus 3R's scheme-management focus.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/3r-group
• Instagraminstagram.com/3r_group_nz
• Xx.com/3rgroup

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds5 records

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about 3R Group