Rebecca Healy, president of Boxhead Plastics, collects scrap plastic car bumper bars and turns them into golf tees
Make room on the tee, there’s a new player in town. And she’s armed not just with innovative new gear but a greener vision for the sport.
When Rebecca Healy founded Boxhead Plastics, an injection-mould company remanufacturing products from Australia’s growing pile of automotive plastic waste, little did she know she would be helping thousands of everyday golfers hit it long and straight. The female-founded, non-profit provides a solution to locally collected and recycled automotive plastic waste, diverting it from landfill and into something useful at golf courses around the world.
“While Australia’s plastic recycling rate is currently at 11.5 percent, our automotive industry’s plastic recycling rate is only at 1.9 percent,” Healy says. “This means we are sending 196,000 tonnes of automotive plastic waste to our landfills every year.”
Enter the Naiteev Golf Tee, a revolutionary product made from recycled plastic car bumper bars sourced from the Greater Sydney basin. The sleek and durable design comes complete with eco packaging and is built for high performance on the course. And, as we found out, Naiteev’s overwhelming success might just get its brainchild taking up the sport.
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What is your professional background and experience?
I worked for the government for 15 years in administrative roles. I decided on a career change in 2018 and retrained as a polymer technician. I am currently studying a Diploma in Sustainable Practices.
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Tell me about your business.
Naiteev is our trademark brand for our golf tees manufactured and sold by Boxhead Plastics. Boxhead Plastics, founded in 2020 and headquartered in Berowra, New South Wales, is a non-profit social enterprise, manufacturing useful and clever products from Australia’s automotive plastic waste. We have 11 amazing volunteers who help run and manage Boxhead Plastics.
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What was the evolution of Naiteev?
Boxhead Plastics was founded in response to the plastic waste crisis. The innovative process that successfully repurposes polypropylene car bumper bars into the Naiteev™ Golf Tee was engineered using the knowledge I had gained from studying as a polymer technician.
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How did you develop a strong interest in environmental protection?
I grew up on 40 acres of mainly bushland, in rural NSW. Both my parents were pioneers in their efforts to care for and protect our environment, so I have always been conscious of the impacts I am having on our earth. I reached a stage in my life where I was fortunate enough to be in a position to turn my passion and care into a business where I can dedicate my life to our mission of diverting automotive plastic waste from landfill.
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Why is it important we all consider environmentally safe products?
I feel it is important to offer customers a choice of products, including the choice of eco-friendly. We can all play a role in the reduction of pollutions and contaminants affecting our planet. People often feel better about themselves when they do something good for the environment and support local Aussie businesses. We are also creating a better future for our children by tackling some of these bigger environmental issues now, such as plastic waste.
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Where are your tees produced and what is the process?
Scrap plastic car bumper bars are collected across the Sydney basin and transported to our recycler to be flaked up into a feedstock ready for injection moulding. Currently we use a Hornsby-based injection mould company to manufacture our golf tees out of our recycled plastic car bumper bar feedstock. We then sell the tees both retail, wholesale and trade.
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Have you any plans to produce other products?
We are in the process of launching our 100-percent recycled plastic car bumper bar drink coasters, which hit the market in May. We are also trialling the manufacturing of large plastic sheets, which could be used for things such as splash and can be cut, screwed, drilled and glued like wood products (see naiteev.com).
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Are you a golfer?
After launching the Naiteev Golf Tee, I felt maybe I should see if I could actually swing a golf club, and after a few lessons and fun at our local driving range, Thornleigh Golf Centre, it turns out I am not too bad. In between mothering a toddler, studying and running Boxhead Plastics, I am yet to squeeze in a game at our local golf course, Asquith Golf Club, but I can’t wait to get out and have a hit.
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What do you love about the game?
Golf offers the opportunity to be outdoors in gorgeous, wide open green spaces. Golf is dependent on the environment, and I feel all golfers appreciate and understand the gift of nature, who provides us with water to nourish the fairways, space for trees to grow and undulating terrain to give the game an edge. Golf is a game that gives us all a connection to nature in some form.
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Where do you see yourself and your business in five to 10 years?
Our plan is to see every single waste plastic car bumper bar recycled in Australia. Our vision is to establish our own manufacturing and recycling plant here in Hornsby then replicate this across Australia, providing jobs and education in the recycled plastics industry.
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Do you sell your products globally?
Currently we sell our products worldwide. Our business model of scrap plastic collection, recycling and remanufacturing is replicable and can be expanded worldwide, because the plastic waste issue is global.
