Communities Archives | Page 3 of 13

Supporting community initiatives with Cleanaway’s MRL Community Benefit Fund – Round 4

Communities

November 18, 2022

Highlights

These five worthy groups have a huge impact on the communities in Melbourne’s west and we’re proud to contribute funds to help them continue providing support and engagement programs.

Tags: Priority SDG

Highlights

These five worthy groups have a huge impact on the communities in Melbourne’s west and we’re proud to contribute funds to help them continue providing support and engagement programs.

Melbourne Regional Landfill – Community Benefit Fund

Cleanaway is proud to award $50,000 of grants to seven community groups across the West of Melbourne, funded through our Melbourne Regional Landfill Community Benefit Fund – Round 4.

Launched in 2019, our annual grants support a range of community well-being projects in the local area enabling welfare support, community connectivity, waste reduction and sports participation.

Congratulations to our Round 4 grant recipients:

Aintree Scout Group
Burnside Heights Football Club
Caroline Chisholm Society
Caroline Springs Cricket Club
Caroline Springs Football Club
Fareshare
Western Emergency Relief Network (WERN)

The recipients were selected by a review panel consisting of Councillors from Melton City Council and Brimbank City Council and Cleanaway’s Stakeholder and Community Engagement Manager, Olga Ghiri.

Olga said of the fund: “Cleanaway is delighted to provide funding for local initiatives that enhance community health and well-being. These community groups have a tremendous positive impact in their local area and we’re proud to support them to enable them to continue to support their local community through a range of programs.”

Aintree Scout Group – The Aintree Scout Group provides services to youth aged 5-15 in Melton, Taylors Hill and Caroline Springs. Our funding will support the secure storage and IT infrastructure costs required to safeguard their equipment inside their new hall after construction is completed.

Burnside Heights Football Club – Burnside Heights Football Club, also known as The Bears, is a community-based Australian Rules football club with a strong emphasis on junior player development. Our funding will enable them to run off-season fitness and training programs to keep youths active beyond the usual footy season, over summer.

Caroline Chisholm Society – Caroline Chisholm Society provides support to pregnant women and parents of young children. The Society provides a range of programs for families in need, including counselling, housing, material aid, and maternal and child health assessments.

Cleanaway’s funding for the Caroline Chisholm Society will go towards running costs, practitioners, clinical supervision, and providing material aid to vulnerable women and children.

Caroline Springs Cricket Club – Funding will support the club’s development of the next generation of female cricketers and aims to increase the success of their 2022-2023 season with the best possible resources and assistance for their young female players.

Caroline Springs Football Club – Our grant will enable the club to upgrade its sound system to improve capacity for larger community events and club functions, as well as hosting community fund raising events for Breast Cancer and the Big Cancer Morning Tea.

FareShare Kitchen in Derrimut – FareShare runs Victoria’s largest charity kitchens in Derrimut and Abbotsford. They collect donations of surplus nutritious food from businesses and their chefs supervise more than 150 volunteers to cook thousands of appealing healthy meals. The meals are distributed for free to many charities supporting people who are unable to cook meals for themselves and their family.

Western Emergency Relief Network (WERN) – The WERN community aid program is run by Rotary Clubs across the West of Melbourne, collecting and redistributing second-hand furniture, bedding, electrical and whitegoods to assist refugees, victims of domestic violence, homelessness and mental health.

WERN assists an average of forty families each month and has more than 360 accredited case managers dedicated to delivering support services to people in need.

If you have a great initiative that will make a difference, please contact Olga Ghiri on 0478316237 or email olga.ghiri@cleanaway.com.au to find out how you can apply for Round 5 funding in 2023.

Our Previous Grant Recipients

All grant recipients are assessed against a range of criteria and selected on the merits of their project and benefit to the local community.

Round 3 – 2021 Grant Recipients:

Caroline Springs Community Garden – a local residents groups will convert a barren plot of land in Caroline Springs into a Community Garden and provide educational workshops to encourage community participation in tree planting, composting, garden and greenhouse construction.

Hillside Football Club – our grant will subsidise the purchase of uniforms for two new female teams in 2022 and encourage more female participation and development in AFL football.

Lions Club Taylors Lakes – the club will construct a new Community Garden in Taylors Lakes and will call on local residents to volunteer to learn about garden construction, local fauna, planting and sustainable horticulture.

Refugee Migrant Children Centre – an education program for teachers to help them engage with recently resettled refugees, migrants and asylum seeker children aged 5-7 years, to encourage parents and guardians to participate in the school community and their children’s learning.

Western Region Football League – co-funding a Multicultural Development Hub targeting Vietnamese, Chinese, Maltese and Indian youth aged 10-16 to join AFL football. The program will replicate a successful multi-cultural AFL program rolled out in the City of Greater Dandenong.

Caroline Chisholm Society – provides support to pregnant women and parents of young children. The Society provides a range of programs for families in need, including counselling, housing, material aid, and maternal and child health assessments.

Western Emergency Relief Network (WERN) –This community aid program is run by Rotary Clubs across the West of Melbourne, collecting and redistributing second-hand furniture, bedding, electrical and whitegoods to assist refugees, victims of domestic violence, homelessness and mental health.

Round 2 – 2020 Grant Recipients:

Western Emergency Relief Network (WERN)

The WERN community aid program is run by Rotary Clubs across the West of Melbourne, collecting and redistributing second-hand furniture, bedding, electrical and whitegoods to assist refugees, victims of domestic violence, homelessness and mental health.WERN assists an average of forty families each month and has more than 360 accredited case managers dedicated to delivering support services to people in need. The program was also one of the recipients in the 2019 MRL Community Benefit Fund.

Burnside Heights Football Club
Burnside Heights Football Club, also known as The Bears, is a community-based Australian Rules football club with a strong emphasis on junior player development.

Due to the shutdown of sport during the COVID-19 pandemic, the club has suffered a lack of income that would normally come from registrations and canteen and merchandise purchases. The grant money will enable The Bears to purchase uniforms for volunteers and provide jackets for players to wear while on the bench.

Caroline Chisholm Society
Caroline Chisholm Society provides support to pregnant women and parents of young children. The Society provides a range of programs for families in need, including counselling, housing, material aid, and maternal and child health assessments.

Cleanaway’s funding for the Caroline Chisholm Society will go towards running costs, practitioners, clinical supervision, and providing material aid to vulnerable women and children.

George Cross Football Club
Established in 1947, George Cross Football Club is a soccer club for players of a variety of ages. The club plays in Victoria’s State League Division 1, a regional, semi-professional league.

The club aims to achieve a better balance of male and female participation in soccer by introducing new female teams. The funding will support upgraded facilities, a new strength and conditioning program, and fully accredited coaches.

Caroline Springs Cricket Club
Caroline Springs Cricket Club was established in 2003 by local parents wanting to support the growing number of junior players looking to play cricket. Since then, the club has grown to include 180 members across six senior teams and 12 junior teams.

Cleanaway’s funding will enable the club to provide specialist coaching programs for its coaching staff.

To learn more about how we’re making a sustainable future possible working with communities across Australia, contact Olga Ghiri, Stakeholder and Community Engagement Manager on olga.ghiri@cleanaway.com.au or 0478 316237.

Cleanaway is committed to our priority SDGs aligned to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. We are committed to making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable and we engage with local communities to understand the economic, environmental and social forces that shape Australia’s future needs.

Find out more in our 202 Sustainability Report.

Cleanaview – five years of service and counting

Communities - Our Services

September 21, 2022

Highlights

"The Cleanaview team is looking forward to continuing to develop Cleanaview so it provides even greater benefit to our branches and our ability to provide the best service to our customers.”

Tags: Our services

Highlights

"The Cleanaview team is looking forward to continuing to develop Cleanaview so it provides even greater benefit to our branches and our ability to provide the best service to our customers.”

1 September 2022 marked five years since the launch of Cleanaview (Municipal Version), our integrated system that helps our municipal customers keep track of collections with real time data gathered from the Cleanaway fleet.

Head of Cleanaview Redevelopment Paul Young said, “Thank you to our branches and their operations and support staff, customer service teams and drivers for embracing the technology and making it work. The Cleanaview team is looking forward to continuing to develop Cleanaview so it provides even greater benefit to our branches and our ability to provide the best service to our customers.”

In 2018, Noosa Shire Council employed Cleanaview as a single point of call for reporting and resolving issues.

Today it is in operation for 61 of our council contracts with 51 councils using purpose built, council branded Cleanaview portals to monitor Cleanaway vehicles and job completion.

Pictured: Over 1,100 Cleanaway solid waste services vehicles currently use Cleanaview to communicate bin events to council customer service teams. The Cleanaview platform brings customer transparency, which is a unique selling proposal to municipal users. This transparency also minimises any back and forth between residents, councils and Cleanaway admin teams.

The system gathers data from our fleet of trucks and enables our drivers to report driver-initiated alerts including high definition images directly to council. This includes contaminated or damaged bins as well as bins that have not been emptied or presented.

Cleanaview also enables our drivers to take photos or record videos of such bin events on their routes for council customer service teams to action on in real time.

Such visual information offers councils greater visibility over bin usage in the community and more control over kerbside collections.

Pictured: Cleanaview allows council customer service teams to give feedback to residents who call about their collections and provide them with a first call resolution.

Over its first five years in service, Cleanaview has evolved to make our fleet safer and more compliant.

Before leaving the depot our drivers complete a pre-start checklist (electronic Safe Truck Safe Drive) on Cleanaview to ensure that their vehicles are safe from a driving perspective. Similarly, at the end of the shift driver is directed to complete post trip checklist form.

Pictured: Each Cleanaview equipped vehicle is fitted with up to seven vehicle mounted cameras (left) and automatic smart sensor brakes (right) to ensure the safety of our drivers and other road users in the community.

Major highlights

Electronic job scheduling and completion has allowed drivers to receive jobs while in the field and to take photos as required to report issues. Operations teams have greater visibility of job progress throughout each day.

The introduction of the digital Safe Truck Safe Drive process enabled drivers to complete pre and post shift electronically with automated corrective maintenance work order creation, which is now standard in many Cleanaway branches (and being used in over 850 vehicles). This has saved a significant amount of administration effort, not to mention the trees that have also been saved.

Bin events (including photos) such as contaminated bins from municipal trucks being reported in near real time so users can see images from the truck cameras straight away.

Other key features are as follows:

A series of automatic contamination letters sent to residents for bin contamination event
SMS texting alert to residents for their scheduled hard waste collection
Electronic turn by turn navigation for drivers
Enhanced route optimisation based on driver shifts, vehicle capacity, job types etc
A purposed built portal for residents for self-service to book and track a service request
Business to business integration with council system either via real time interface or batch interface.

Contact us to learn more about how we’re making a sustainable future possible for communities and businesses across Australia.

Tin Can Bay State School wins Junk to Junk Competition

Communities - Our People

September 13, 2022

Tags: Education

Highlights

In keeping with Cleanaway’s mission statement — making a sustainable future possible together — Cleanaway encourages the young to think sustainably. At the recent Gympie EnviroTech day, Cleanaway and Gympie Regional Council challenged school students to upcycle their waste items and create junk boats.

EnviroTech aimed to highlight sustainable technologies across a range of sectors and celebrated the sustainable work already undertaken by households, schools and businesses. A wide range of stalls displayed information about the importance of reducing emissions, financial benefits of these technologies and empowering a sustainable community.

This year, the event also showcased sustainable schools within the district. The organisers of Envirotech, Gympie Regional Council and local Councillors approached Cleanaway’s Education Officer to create a competition to encourage the participation of youth in the local area.

The junk boat entries were showcased in the Junk to Junk Competition and judged by members of Gympie District Sustainability Alliance.

The Prep to Year 3 category was awarded to students from Tin Can Bay State School. Their innovative junk boat design transformed multiple waste items into a floating boat.

“It was amazing to see all the effort that went into creating each junk boat. Students were very creative in upcycling their waste items into various parts for their boats. One of the requirements of the competition was the junk boats had to float. I think the judges had the most fun picking the winner”. Chloe Zatta, Cleanaway Education Officer and organiser of the Junk to Junk Competition.

Pictured: Junk boat competition at EnviroTech event challenges youth to find new innovative ways to reuse their waste.

Part of the prize for Tin Can Bay State School was Prep to Year 4 receiving a Cleanaway truck visit and recycling education lessons. Students were able to meet the Cleanaway driver, Kevin and learn how the rubbish truck picks up a bin and where it goes once the truck is full.

Pictured: Students from Tin Can Bay State School get up close with Cleanaway’s rubbish truck and learn about ways to reduce their waste at school.

During the recycling lesson, students discovered the importance of resource recovery and how they can reduce their waste at school and at home.

Cleanaway’s Waste Education Program encourages the development of short and long term environmental behaviour change through curriculum aligned lessons and supported activities.

The program is available to local schools in the Gympie region and offers a variety of topics that improve recycling habits and waste reduction within schools and the community.

Contact us to learn more about how we’re making a sustainable future possible for communities and businesses across Australia.

Vacuum innovation sets new standard for beach polystyrene clean-ups

Communities - Our People - Our Services

July 18, 2022

Highlights

"During this trial, we also gained valuable learnings on how we can improve it for implementation in similar projects in the future."

Tags: Communities

Highlights

"During this trial, we also gained valuable learnings on how we can improve it for implementation in similar projects in the future."

Following the February flooding in South East Queensland, approximately 85km of beachfront between the North Sunshine Coast and Fraser Island was contaminated with polystyrene particles that were left behind after pontoons washed ashore.

Cleanaway’s Queensland IWS team was contracted by Noosa Council to remove the polystyrene pollution from the affected areas of Noosa Beach on a trial basis. However, with no purpose-built technology for removing polystyrene pollution from beach sand, the team had to think outside the box to come up with an all-new solution for the trial.

Further complicating the problem was the terrain of Noosa Beach which featured hundreds of metres of steep sand cliffs. These cliffs had formed along the beach by rough surf and the situation made it difficult for Cleanaway all-terrain vacuum trucks to access the problem areas.

Pictured: Polystyrene particles washed up on the Noosa Beach shoreline.

“When Noosa Council approached us for a solution, I started researching beach cleaning methods and contacting people who run beach clean-up drives to check if any work had been done in the past, but I couldn’t find what we needed,” said Graduate Engineer Pir Muhammad Junejo.

“So, I approached my IWS team to see what kind of machinery and equipment we have on site. After some brainstorming sessions with the team including Branch Manager Nick Emmett, Key Account Manager Ben May, Project Manager Steve Milward and Operations Supervisor Cem Kusdemir we decided to go ahead with a vacuum unit with vibration separator as our prime method for the trial.”

Pictured: Graduate Engineer Pir Muhammad Junejo from our Queensland IWS team next to an all-terrain vacuum truck. The Noosa Beach polystyrene clean-up trial was Pir’s first project with Cleanaway.

Despite the challenges, the Queensland IWS team conducted the polystyrene clean-up trial in early April 2022 – only four months into Pir’s career with Cleanaway. Using his newly modified general waste vacuum unit, the team went to work sucking up layers of sand containing polystyrene, which would then be screened at a nearby quarry. Once the polystyrene particles were screened, the clean sand was returned to the beach.

Pictured: The mobile screen that was set up at a nearby quarry to screen polluted sand collected from Noosa Beach.

To facilitate the removal of polystyrene pollution from hard to reach dune areas, the Queensland IWS project team brought in extension hoses to extend the reach of the all-terrain vacuum trucks.

Pictured: The Queensland IWS team sucking up polystyrene waste from the affected areas of Noosa Beach using extension hoses.

Pictured: Some of the polystyrene debris collected during the clean-up trial.

The team’s vacuum innovation cleaned up a total of 160L of polystyrene along 5.5km of beachfront in just five days. Any remaining polystyrene particles were collected by hand by Noosa Council crews who were brought in to follow behind Cleanaway vacuum operators.

This successful trial eliminated the risk of microplastics entering the water table and impacting the marine life off the Noosa Beach coast.

“Seeing our methodology work and our team effort pay off gave me immense contentment,” said Pir.

“During this trial, we also gained valuable learnings on how we can improve it for implementation in similar projects in the future.”

Contact us to learn more about how we’re making a sustainable future possible for communities and businesses across Australia.

Social enterprise TradeMutt turns mental health conversations into the talk of the town

Communities - Our People - Partnerships

June 23, 2022

Highlights

“Cleanaway is an awesome company that have started plenty of conversations through their TradeMutt shirts.”

Tags: partnerships

Highlights

“Cleanaway is an awesome company that have started plenty of conversations through their TradeMutt shirts.”

When former tradies Dan Allen and Ed Ross founded workwear brand TradeMutt in 2018, little did they know that they would ignite a nationwide mental health movement.

A year after they launched TradeMutt, Dan and Ed founded This Is A Conversation Starter (TIACS) a free mental health chat, text and callback service for industrial workers. The service was initially funded by TradeMutt shirt profits and has provided 6,541 hours of free mental health counselling to 8,226 Australians to date.

Recently, the TIACS Alliance was formed to allow industry leaders to make donations directly to TIACS which expands its reach to even more people in need of mental health support.

TIACS is just one of the mental health initiatives kickstarted by TradeMutt. The social enterprise has plans to introduce Funky Shirt Fridays as a positive Australian working tradition and encourage Aussie workers to check in with each other on a weekly basis.

Pictured: TradeMutt co-founders Ed Ross (left) and Dan Allen (right) sporting their characteristically colourful work shirts.

TradeMutt was recently certified as a social enterprise by Social Traders and has been one of Cleanaway’s social enterprise suppliers since 2021. The idea came from Narangba refinery operator Matt Purontakanen, who found TradeMutt through their blog and proceeded to introduce the social enterprise to Cleanaway.

“I’ve dealt with depression and suicide in my family, so mental health is a topic close to my heart,” said Matt.

“I’m glad I had a chance to talk to my colleagues and mates during my worst times, or I wouldn’t be here today. I love the idea behind TradeMutt because they give so many people that opportunity.”

Senior Human Resource Business Partner Katie Foster echoed Matt’s sentiments.

“Our partnership with TradeMutt helps us create a safe space for our employees to start conversations early and share their stories with each other,” said Katie during the launch of the partnership at Cleanaway’s Narangba hazardous liquids site.

Pictured: Matt (front row, left) and Katie (back row, second from right) posing with the Cleanaway Narangba team during the launch of the TradeMutt partnership. TradeMutt’s Dan and Ed are next to Matt in the front row.

In 2021, Cleanaway and TradeMutt kicked off with an initial order of 1,000 high vis shirts featuring a custom design created for Cleanaway by TradeMutt. This year an additional order of 1,374 high vis shirts and 290 corporate shirts was made.

Cleanaway has since made another order after many sizes immediately went into backorder including both high vis and corporate shirts, to spark mental health conversations on site, off site and even online.

Social media posts featuring our recently retired COO Brendan Gill in full TradeMutt gear were hugely popular and received dozens of comments and reactions from employees, customers and business partners alike.

Pictured: Former Cleanaway COO Brendan Gill in a custom print TradeMutt corporate shirt (left) and high vis shirt (right).

The eye-catching workwear has since been spotted in the wild at various Cleanaway sites including at our Milton corporate office. The Milton team marked their first day back in the office this year by proudly donning their TradeMutt shirts.

Pictured: Collections Team Leader Nicolle Hewat (left) and Collections Coordinator Mark Moorhouse (right) in their TradeMutt shirts.

Cleanaway’s past and proposed uniform spend with TradeMutt equates to an estimated 60 hours of TIACS counselling for approximately 76 people. 52% of them would be first-time callers. The nature of these calls includes relationship issues, anxiety, stress, depression and trauma.

“Cleanaway is an awesome company that have started plenty of conversations through their TradeMutt shirts,” said TradeMutt co-founder Dan, who started the social enterprise after unexpectedly losing a young friend to suicide in 2016.

“They’re doing a fine job with driving a much needed social and cultural shift around mental health within their organisation, industry and community at large.”

Contact us to learn more about how we’re making a sustainable future possible for communities and businesses across Australia.

Cleanaway bolsters environmental and social impact with Soft Landing

Communities - Partnerships - Resource Recovery

June 15, 2022

Highlights

“Partnering with Cleanaway helps us in our mission to create stable and meaningful jobs for people who are experiencing barriers to employment. Every day we see first-hand the positive impact that having a job can have on a person’s life.”

Tags: partnerships

Highlights

The Australian Stewardship Council estimates that nearly two million mattresses are discarded by households each year. Most of the mattresses head straight to landfill, marking a premature end for tonnes of recyclable steel, foam and timber.

Soft Landing is working to turn this problem on its head by diverting mattresses from landfill while providing stable employment to refugees, asylum seekers and long-term unemployed.

Last year, the social enterprise recycled 538,000 mattresses. For every 35 mattresses collected and recycled, a job is created for someone in need.

It was this social mission that initially brought Cleanaway and Soft Landing together in 2018. The two companies have since shared a close working relationship to make mattress recycling accessible to Australians while offering opportunities to disadvantaged groups.

Pictured: Kolimullah (left) is a Rohingya refugee from Myanmar while Akhil (right) is originally from Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland. Both came through to Soft Landing via a refugee and resettlement process operated with federal funding by Settlement Services International.

In early 2022, Cleanaway took it up a notch by formally entering into a procurement agreement with Soft Landing, making them our biggest social enterprise contractor. The agreement opens up Soft Landing’s mattress collection service to residents in Victoria (Brimbank, Cardinia, Dandenong, Hobson Bay, Maribyrnong, Maroondah, Melton, Moonee Valley and Mornington) and Western Australia (Bayswater, Joondalup, Malaga, Mandurah and Perth Metro).

Residents in these regions can make bookings for kerbside mattress collections at standardised rates via their local councils. Residents can also make bulk drop-offs for Soft Landing at selected Cleanaway transfer stations in the two states, making it possible to recycle mattresses, furniture and white goods all at one place.

Pictured: Lee is a migrant from Malaysia who joined Soft Landing in 2019 to accommodate the social enterprise’s increasing manual recycling processes. Lee still works at the Smithfield, NSW site along with his colleagues Kolimullah and Akhil.

“We use local suppliers wherever possible and support the communities that we work in. We also see that in Cleanaway.”

“As part of our commitment to making a sustainable future possible together with the communities where we operate, Cleanaway is always looking to strengthen our partnerships with social enterprises such as Soft Landing, as well as with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-owned enterprises,” says Ezra Clough, Cleanaway’s Head of Procurement.

“Our tendering process prefers Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suppliers, while our social procurement framework is set up to prioritise and increase our ethical sourcing engagement and spend. Between January 2021 and January 2022, our spend for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-owned businesses was $9.8 million and social enterprises was $3.8 million. We’re working to grow these figures over time.”

Learn more about how we’re bringing to life Cleanaway’s mission for our customers, shareholders, community and the planet in our 2022 Sustainability Report.

Contact us to learn more about how we’re making a sustainable future possible for communities and businesses across Australia.

‘Operation Collect’ sweeps 100,000 tonnes of waste from flood-impacted Brisbane

Communities - Our Services - Partnerships - Resource Recovery

May 3, 2022

Highlights

Cleanaway and Brisbane City Council (BCC) sprang into action to assist in the flood clean-up operations to manage over 100,000 tonnes of waste that was generated by the flooding, including the use of temporary sites to remove flood waste from Brisbane’s streets as part of ‘Operation Collect’.

Tags: Communities

Highlights

On the morning of 28 February 2022, record volumes of rain caused the Brisbane River to peak at its highest level since 2011 and within three days, up to 18,000 homes across southeast Queensland were inundated.

Pictured: Adrian Schrinner, Brisbane Lord Mayor addresses media to discuss ‘Operation Collect’ at Cleanaway’s Mt Coot-tha temporary site.

As most of the commercial waste infrastructure in the region was impacted by the floods, BCC commissioned seven temporary resource recovery centres across the city to assist residents with stockpiling waste from recovery and clean-up work.

Cleanaway operated three of these temporary sites, with Mt Coot-tha and Eagle Farm being the two largest sites set up for ‘Operation Collect’.

Pictured: Residents queuing up to unload flood waste at Chandler Resource Recovery Centre, one of the facilities operated by Cleanaway.

Pictured: Cleanaway staff using loaders to gather flood waste in the surge pit at Willawong Resource Recovery Centre. Surge pits provide temporary waste storage space during counter disaster operations.

Cleanaway operates five facilities for BCC – Brisbane Landfill at Rochedale and four resource recovery centres at Chandler, Ferny Grove, Nudgee and Willawong. During the flood crisis, we expanded our efforts to operate 10 facilities in total, including the three temporary resource recovery centres set up specially for ‘Operation Collect’.

BCC commissioned Cleanaway to operate two former landfills in Nudgee and Willawong. Together with Brisbane Landfill and resource recovery centres in Nudgee and Willawong, we were able to facilitate after-hours disposal and bulk haulage transfer 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

We also offered a bespoke household hazardous waste collection service for the council’s street clean-up crews. A dedicated phone number was created for the crews to call the Cleanaway hotline whenever hazardous waste was identified at any of the temporary resource recovery centres. Our Liquid and Technical Services team from Narangba was on hand to assist with this service.

Pictured: Cleanaway’s Narangba Liquid and Technical Services team members inspecting hazardous waste before removing it from the Mt Coot-tha temporary site.

Pictured: Cleanaway fleet delivering flood waste collected from the Resource Recovery Centres to Brisbane Landfill.

During the peak of the flood recovery efforts, we tripled our workforce from 89 employees to approximately 250, including external contractors.

We deployed skilled labour from other Cleanaway sites such as New Chum and Bowhill Road. We were also supported by our Queensland Solid Waste Services teams who provided extra drivers required for the non-stop operations.

Our regional managers, safety and environment business partners and finance and administration teams were all hands on deck to ensure coordination and management of the clean-up effort.

Cleanaway processed approximately 80% to 90% of the 100,000 tonnes of flood waste with residual volumes handled by external facilities contracted by BCC. The operation ran for a total of six weeks, starting in late February and ending in early April.

Pictured: Cleanaway’s high productivity B-double vehicles tipping flood waste at Brisbane Landfill.

Each year, Cleanaway manages over half a million tonnes of waste and recyclables for BCC – the largest local government in Australia.

Cleanaway and BCC officially entered into the Resource Recovery Innovation Alliance (RRIA) in 2018 to manage the city’s post collection infrastructure including the operation of the Brisbane Landfill and four resource recovery centres in Chandler, Ferny Grove, Nudgee and Willawong. RRIA also oversees the bulk logistics of waste and resources flows within this network as well as with third party facilities.

Contact us to learn more about how we’re making a sustainable future possible for communities and businesses across Australia.

Working together to Clean Up Australia

Communities - Our People

March 21, 2022

Highlights

"It’s a beautiful place we live in - next year we are hoping to get more locals involved as it is a great education to actually see how much rubbish you find when you’re walking or just driving by."

Tags: Clean Up Australia Day

Highlights

This Clean Up Australia Day, Cleanaway team members worked closely with local community organisations and family members, from helping residents “clean up” their waste to taking a walk down a beautiful stretch of road to pick up litter. Here are their stories:

Black Rock Gardens, Victoria
Key Account Manager Ash Inglis was joined by teammates Aaron Schulze, Gregory Vournechis, Lilli McCubbin and their families to clean up Black Rock Gardens and its surrounds. She had a great time and noted, “We only found a few face masks which was both pleasing and puzzling as we thought there would be lots. Plenty of soft plastic wrappers, wet wipes, bottles and cans though!”

The team takes a final photo with the rubbish they collected

Riverland, South Australia
Operations Supervisor Matt Coombes (also known as Matty) and post collections worker Tony Ebert joined the local SA Monash Country Fire Service Brigade at 8AM on a lovely Sunday morning for another successful Clean Up Australia event. Matty said they were hoping to get more people involved next year, “It’s a beautiful place we live in – next year we are hoping to get more locals involved as it is a great education to actually see how much rubbish you find when you’re walking or just driving by.”

Post Clean Up Australia Day group photo with the SA Monash Country Fire Service Brigade

Biodiversity Park, South Australia
The team was pleasantly surprised by the condition of the first site they visited. Resource Recovery Officer Jess Jones said, “We visit this site every year for Clean Up as it is a common illegal dumping ground. However, we were all stoked to see the area focused on last year remain relatively clear of waste.”

The team with their “haul” of rubbish picked up

They then moved on to other hotspots and removed car tyres, roofing tiles, corrugated iron, polystyrene foam and more. Resource Recovery Officer Georgette Hawes summarised the day’s haul, “We collected more than 20 bags and found lots of construction waste such as metal and plastic fencing, concrete and bricks. Some unusual items included a fibre glass side skirt off a car, a wall mounted air conditioner and lots of plastic piping that had been stripped of metals inside.”

Western Sydney Parklands, New South Wales
The team spent a lovely lovely day cleaning up Lizard Log in Western Sydney Parklands. Theresa Troup recounts, “We were lucky enough to have a break in the rain – we even got a little bit of sun. It was a great way for some of our NSW Sustainability Team members to come together.”

From left to right: Theresa Troup, Maria Juchkov, Monica Davis, Blessing Uwagboe, Helina Kila, and Priya Murthy

Newington Towers hits a new high with FOGO recycling service

Communities - Learning - Our Services

January 17, 2022

Tags: Education

Highlights

When it comes to introducing new recycling programmes to residents, the reactions can be a mixed bag. This is exactly what the Cleanaway education team was anticipating when they were approached by Randwick City Council to kick start a Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) service at Newington Towers.

Pictured: The Cleanaway education team engaging with a Newington Towers resident via a pop-up information session.

To get off on the right foot, Cleanaway Resource Recovery Officer (RRO) Abiola Ishola set out to engage with the residents two months ahead of the FOGO service commencement.

Abiola realised immediately the unique challenges facing his team: Newington Towers has a transient student population and this was hindering the complex from achieving its existing waste management strategies. The amount of commingle recyclables that was ending up in the general waste bins indicated a low engagement with recycling systems, so it was clear the Cleanaway team had their work cut out for them.

Abiola and the team started off by organising a pop-up information session where Newington Tower residents received information in several languages on the upcoming FOGO service. This was followed by education sessions and meetings with the body corporate manager and building manager, with the goal of designing a suitable waste management strategy. Signage and educational collateral were also deployed at strategic locations within the complex.

The team’s hard work paid off. Within only five months, 6.8 tonnes of FOGO was diverted from landfill – approximately 500% higher than the initial recovery estimates projected for Newington Towers.

Randwick City Council is now planning to model the Newington Towers engagement strategy for similarly sized residential complexes where it has been challenging to have a coordinated approach to waste management.

Contact us to learn more about how we’re making a sustainable future possible for communities and businesses across Australia.

St Paul’s School wins 2021 Cleanaway Waste Warrior Challenge

Communities - Partnerships

November 30, 2021

Highlights

"There were so many schools at The Wave and it was incredible to see how much Tangalooma EcoMarines has grown. I love that Cleanaway is able to support them through this journey – they’re making such an impact,”

Tags: Education

Highlights

‘Waste Warrior Jellyfish’ made by students of St Paul’s School in Bald Hills, Queensland, has won the Cleanaway Waste Warrior Challenge, an annual art competition where students from different schools compete to create meaningful artwork from waste items found in their local communities.

The luminous beauty beat entries from eight other schools, and highlighted the dangers of hard and soft plastics to marine life.

Pictured: ‘Waste Warrior Jellyfish’ – the winning artwork by St Paul’s School.

The students were aided in their winning project by marine biologist Caitlin Smith, who also happens to be a past student of St Paul’s. Caitlin lent a hand by providing photos of the insides of a sea turtle’s intestines, which revealed the extent of plastics pollution in the ocean. Caitlin even went as far as detailing every piece of hard and soft plastic found inside the sea turtle – something the students found both incredibly interesting and devastating.

Pictured: Marine biologist Caitlin Smith with the intestines of a sea turtle found off Hervey Bay.

Pictured: The tally of hard and soft plastics found inside the sea turtle.

Spurred by their recent experience, the St Paul’s EcoMarines went to work on ‘Waste Warrior Jellyfish’ by collecting a week’s worth of hard and soft plastics at their school via dedicated bins and posters. These plastics then became the building material for their artwork, which is scheduled to be turned into an installation in the St Paul’s library for the benefit of the school community.

Our Education Officers Lauren Grimshaw and Chloe Zatta attended Tangalooma EcoMarine’s annual year end celebration, The Wave, where St Paul’s School was announced as the winner of the Cleanaway Waste Warriors Challenge.

“The biggest difference I observed compared to last year’s event was definitely the increase in the number of students! There were so many schools at The Wave and it was incredible to see how much Tangalooma EcoMarines has grown. I love that Cleanaway is able to support them through this journey – they’re making such an impact,” said Lauren.

“I was so impressed with the students and their commitment towards the EcoMarines program. It was wonderful to see so many of them stepping up to make a positive impact on the environment while encouraging their school and community to do the same,” said Chloe, who attended The Wave for the first time this year.

Joining Lauren and Chloe at The Wave was David Wheeley, General Manager, Solid Waste Services Queensland.

Pictured: General Manager, Solid Waste Services Queensland David Wheeley with EcoMarines Ambassadors at The Wave.

Cleanaway is proud to support Tangalooma EcoMarines, a not-for-profit organisation based in Brisbane that provides sustainability programs for schools across Southeast Queensland. 63 primary schools and 15 secondary schools participated in the EcoMarines program in 2021.

Cleanaway has been a sponsor of the EcoMarines program since 2017.

Contact us to learn more about how we’re making a sustainable future possible for communities and businesses across Australia.

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