Our first full year of operation under the new entity has been another good year, we have continued to achieve our goals in the diversion of over 9,000 tonnes of waste to landfill and employ another two workers who were not previously employed.
This year has also seen the introduction of a gas cylinder destruction unit, enabling us to safely punch gas cylinders for them to be recycled, for this we thank Dave Merton from the RMH Group for his expert advice and Scott’s Bendigo for the construction of the unit.
Tours of the site has seen over 300 students come through the centre over the year, these include Marist Brothers College, Victory College, Catholic College, Crusoe College, Castlemaine Secondary and even the Bluebird Kindergarten. Tours have also been taken by the Probus Club of Bendigo, Uniting Care Church, Access Skills Training and the Loddon Mallee Waste & Resource Recovery Group. Other councils have also toured the site to see how the operation runs when they consider opening something similar in their area.
A highlight of the year was to receive the Overall Award and Business and Innovation Award at the 2017 Bendigo Sustainability Awards, we would like to thank the Bendigo Sustainability Group for this honour.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank our Board of Management for volunteering their time and expertise in the overall management of this enterprise, their knowledge in their fields is a great benefit to the running of the Recycle Shop. I would like to thank Fiona Naughton for her input whilst she was a member of the Board. I would also like to wholeheartedly thank Peter Cox, who resigned from the Board in March, for his 24 years of involvement with the Recycle Shop, Peter’s dedication, knowledge and support has been invaluable to myself and the centre as a whole. Tonight we will present Peter with a well-deserved Life Membership and the installation of a plaque in acknowledgement of his efforts.
My thanks also go to the staff for their dedication in a very demanding job through wind, rain and hail to the extreme heat, they continue to perform their jobs to the highest degree. Well done to all – It’s why we are successful.
(Read more in the 2017 Annual Report)