Driven by infrastructure investment, sustainability goals, and increasing landfill costs, demand for recycled hydro excavation material in New Zealand is growing.
As towns and cities continue to see investment in roads and highways, water infrastructure, housing developments, railway projects and more, the need for more sand and aggregates increases.
And with New Zealand’s population experiencing further growth, it’s expected that New Zealand will continue to see a rise in construction workloads.
This is the case in Auckland in particular as Auckland remains New Zealand’s largest market for building and construction workloads.
In 2025 there were over 15,000 dwellings consented in Auckland, which marked a 12% increase in the volume recorded from the year previous, and made up over 40% of the total across New Zealand throughout the year.
According to MBIE, infrastructure activity is set to increase across Auckland in 2029 by 21.8% and remain at this level until the end of the period.
This is a vital time for materials suppliers with demand on the rise. With this in mind, HydroCycle saw the opportunity to enter the liquid waste recycling market to help support the needs of the industry and doing so whilst supporting the circular economy.
HydroCycle is a highly specialised, 100% circular economy environmental services company based in Penrose, Auckland. The firm aims to address a critical infrastructure bottleneck by focusing entirely on the processing and recycling of heavy industrial liquid waste, particularly hydro excavation mud and slurry.
Led by Seb Bainbridge and Peter McMenamin, the core focusses of HydroCycle are hydro waste disposal, resource recovery, production of sustainable aggregates and water re-use to minimise the volume of freshwater consumption in their operations.
In 2025, HydroCycle acquired a new site that previously commissioned and installed wet processing equipment from CDE. The solution at this site is CDE’s G:MAX all-in-one wet processing system with an integrated hopper for direct feeding, and a split screen for separating products and a control panel on board.
Since it was first launched nearly a decade ago, the G:MAX has evolved into a highly robust solution designed to minimise maintenance requirements and downtime while maximising solids recovery and dewatering efficiency.
Its ease of use makes it a practical entry point for companies adopting in-house dewatering. Its proven hydro cyclone technology offers maximum grit recovery from wastewater which maximises product yield and minimises waste volumes to significantly reduce operational and disposal costs.
Seb Bainbridge, Director at HydroCycle says that CDE’s technology is proving to be robust and reliable.
“Since acquiring this site, we have been putting the plant through its paces, and it’s been great to see that we have a reliable solution on site. As demand for our services grows, we can see how just valuable this investment been to us. We’re able to provide more sustainable material to the market, which is not only helping to close the loop in materials recovery, but we’re also supporting the local economy.
“For the team here at HydroCycle, the journey is only beginning. By combining our entrepreneurial ambition with proven CDE technology, we are demonstrating how innovation, sustainability and commercial success can work hand in hand, turning waste into value and creating a cleaner future for New Zealand's infrastructure sector.”
The plant is processing hydro excavation feed including NDD Muds and drilling muds, which are being transformed into a 6mm+ aggregate and a 0-6mm sand for use in local construction projects. The sand materials are being used for bedding pipework, the aggregates used for backfill as well as in use during the construction of roads.
"This is exactly the kind of application the G:MAX was designed for," says James Murphy, Head of Sales, Asia Pacific at CDE, "HydroCycle is showing what is possible when forward-thinking operators embrace circular economy principles, recovering valuable materials, conserving water and creating sustainable growth opportunities.”
James adds: “The market for sustainable sand and aggregates in New Zealand is growing, and we expect this momentum to continue. The HydroCycle team is not only seeing the commercial viability of recycling hydro excavated material, but the positive contribution that it’s making to the circular economy.”
To learn more visit CDEGroup.com or meet with the CDE team at No-Dig in Auckland from 28-29 October 2026. Located at booth #F14, the team will be showcasing its pioneering hydro excavation waste solutions.
