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<strong>The</strong> <strong>Star</strong> Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi<br />
Thursday <strong>January</strong> <strong>18</strong> 20<strong>18</strong> 21<br />
A letter to our community.<br />
Thank you to our wonderful staff and to all those helping us following the recent devastating fire<br />
at the GELITA NZ plant in Woolston, Christchurch.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re were four people on site at the time of the fire and fortunately no one was hurt.<br />
<strong>The</strong> fire has caused major structural and electrical damage, primarily in our processing area, and<br />
the food manufacturing areas of the plant. Our first job is to clean up, now that the fire and<br />
insurance investigators have given us the go ahead.<br />
<strong>The</strong> clean-up operation will include the removal of partially processed beef hide from the site over<br />
the next three or so weeks. During the removal, there will unfortunately be increased odours at<br />
some stages of the day.<br />
We are keenly aware of our near neighbours and will work very hard to keep the impact to an<br />
absolute minimum. Despite our best efforts, we expect that there will be spikes in odour while the<br />
partly processed material is treated and removed. It’s a huge job.<br />
But, once the material is removed, the source of the odour will have been eliminated.<br />
We are grateful for your patience and understanding while we undertake this work and we<br />
apologise for any short-term effect this may have on our local community.<br />
GELITA NZ takes beef hide, a by-product from meat works, extracts the collagen, and turns it into<br />
gelatine powder for use in a broad range of industries including the food, beverage, health and<br />
pharmaceutical sectors.<br />
While the fire has been a major setback for GELITA NZ, the plant was fully insured and our parent<br />
company has established a support team in Germany to help us through this period of uncertainty.<br />
Our customers are being serviced by the wider GELITA group while we plan for our future.<br />
We remain positive. GELITA NZ employs 60 staff and a further 300 indirectly. About three-quarters<br />
of our high quality gelatine is sent overseas.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re is no doubt that we face a difficult period but we will continue to work hard for our future.<br />
Gary Monk<br />
General Manager<br />
GELITA NZ<br />
GELITA NZ Ltd. • 135-145 Connal Street, Christchurch 8023, New Zealand<br />
P.O.Box 19-542, Woolston, Christchurch 8241<br />
Phone +64 3 384 3093 • Fax +64 3 384 3231<br />
www.GELITA.com
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