A man who was born with a disability is loving a job that combines his love of both aviation and recycling.
Coso Stretch always wanted to work around planes, now Enviro NZ has given him his dream role at Christchurch Airport.
He was born with a disability that affected his hand-eye coordination, which he told Seven Sharp has been a struggle as he has become older.
However, he didn't let that stop him and when Christchurch Airport started a unique recycling operation six months ago he answered the call.
The airport has a team of workers that pick over the rubbish dumped by travellers there to make sure everything that can be recycled is.
"I kind of gave myself a little title for this job, I said I'm an airport waste technician," Stretch said laughing.
And when the airport waste technician isn't spotting recyclables, he is spotting planes.
"In break time I can do plane spotting, I can just come up here," he said from the observation lounge.
He finds the nature of the work fits in with his style.
"I've worked on building sites and stuff but because of my disability I'm a little bit too slow for the liking of the bosses.
"I've been able to stay here for six months and it just shows you that despite having a disability you can achieve anything if you put your mind to it."
In that six months Stretch and his EnviroNZ crew at Christchurch Airport have cut waste gong to landfill by a whopping 50%.
That has seen 30 tonnes diverted for compost, recycling or re-purposing.
It has even led to the airport receiving two international awards.
The Airports Council International Asia-Pacific awarded Christchurch Airport the Green Airports Recognition 2023 and the Airport Carbon Accreditation - Mentor.
There have certainly been some unique finds in the waste during that time, with medical skeleton bones turning up on the day Seven Sharp went to visit.
Stretch hopes to continue his work into the future, cleaning up the airport one passenger at a time.
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